Term of punishment of Khadija Ismayilova is cut for another year

Today the  Baku  Serious  Crimes Court reduced the term of imprisonment  of  journalist Khadija Ismayilova from 3.5 years to 2 years and  three months. Thus, the court partially granted the appeal of Ismayilova on  removal  her charges under the Article 192 (illegal business) in connection with the decriminalization of charges against Ismayilova. So, on June 1 came into force amendments to the Criminal Code. The changes were made and the Article 192 "Illegal business." Under the new version of the law journalist’s cooperation with foreign media without accreditation Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot be interpreted as "illegal business". However, according to  the lawyer Fariz Namazly, the  court only reclassified  the charged with Article 192.2.1 (illegal business with extraction of income in the large size) in the Article 192.1 (illegal entrepreneurship.) In this case, the Court referred to the new edition of the criminal law, where the size of a large income increased from 50.000 to 100.000 manat.

The prosecution believes that all fees by Ismayilova for five years in the amount of 79.5 thousand manat were income, extracted as a result of illegal activities, as  she did not  pass accreditation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. As a result, the court appointed Ismayilova punishment under Article 192.1  in the form of four  months  of imprisonment and in conjunction with Article 213.1 (tax evasion) appointed general sentenced  of two years and  three months suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 5 years. The lawyer  Namazly stressed that the protection does not agree with the court decision and will appeal against it. Protection insists on the full withdrawal of the charges under Article 192. Ismayilova  does not agree with the court decision. "For me it was not of fundamental importance to drop charges on the extraction of a large income. We sought decriminalization of the  activities without accreditation at the Foreign Ministry. But it did not happen,  probably because of unwillingness   of  the  (government) to create a precedent, when criminal prosecution of journalists working without accreditation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is impossible.  In this case, I would have had only charged under Article 213.1, and I fell under the amnesty," Ismayilova told Turan correspondent.  She intends to  obtain full restoration of their rights.

* Khadija Ismayilova was arrested on December 5, 2014. On September 1, 2015 she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison under  the Articles 179.3.2 assignment in the large size), 192.2.1 (illegal business with extraction of large income), 213.1 (tax evasion), and 308.2 (abuse of authority.) On  May 25 the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan withdrew the charges against her under Articles 179.3.2 and 308.2, and reduced the sentence to 3.5 years of conditional imprisonment with five years' probation term.-06D-