The Court of Appeal does not take off the charge from H.Ismaylova

Today the  Baku Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of Khadija Ismayilova on  refusal to remove  the accusation on illegal business, the journalists were told by  the lawyer Fariz Namazly. Ismayilova was arrested in December 2014. In September 2015 she was sentenced to 7.5 years on charges of large scale misappropriation and embezzlement, illegal business, tax evasion and abuse. In May 2016, the Supreme Court removed  some  charges and the sentence commuted to 3.5 years of imprisonment conditionally with a five-year probationary period. In connection with the changes to the Criminal Code, on June 1, 2016 Ismayilova asked the court to remove  accusations against her  of "illegal business."  However, the Baku Court only reclassified to a less serious charge (Article 192.1 of the Criminal Code) and reduced the suspended sentence to 2 years 3 months. However,  the defense did not agree with this, explaining that, according to the amendments to the Criminal Code, on June 1, 2016 the alleged journalism  activity of Ismaylova without accreditation Ministry of Foreign Affairs is no longer possible to interpret as a criminal act.  The law gives precise qualification of "illegal business", which is the activity without becoming registered with the tax authorities. Therefore, the defense insists on a complete withdrawal from Ismailova the  charges of illegal business activities. However, the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal today have not  remove from Ismayilova  the charge. According to the lawyer, the cassation appeal to the decision of the Court of Appeal will be filed  in the Supreme Court. -03B06-