Website Editor Sentenced to One Year of Corrective Labor

Baku /17.06.20 / Turan: In the Agdam district court, the trial of the editor of the Criminal.az website Anar Mammadov was completed at the suit of the head of Malahat LLC Malahat Gurbanova.

The reason for the trial was the article: “The ex-minister sued Pawnshop Malahat (Keçmiş nazir "Lombard Məlahəti  məhkəməyə verdi - Torpaqlarımı boşalt ...") and the lawsuit "Pawnshop Malahat and the ex-minister didn’t share center (Rolls-Royce).”

The articles dealt with the lawsuit between Gurbanova and former Minister of Labor Fizuli Alekperov because of a non-residential area.

Gurbanova claimed that she was not engaged in a pawnshop and accused the journalist of protecting the interests of the ex-minister. She demanded that Mammadov be convicted under Art. 147 (libel) and Art. 148 (insult) of the Criminal Code.

The court acquitted the journalist under Art. 147.1, and according to Art. 148 sentenced him to a year of corrective labor. During the year, 20% of his salary will be withheld in favor of the state.

At the same time, the execution of this sentence is separated from another sentence imposed on him earlier - 5.5 years in prison.

He received this punishment on charges of anti-state appeals, abuse of authority and official forgery in connection with the publication on the criminal.az website of reports of the assassination of former head of Ganja Elmar Veliyev in 2018.

Mammadov called the verdict illegal and unreasonable, contrary to the Constitution of Azerbaijan and article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention. He intends to appeal the verdict to higher courts.

The previous verdict on Anar Mammadov was condemned by a number of international journalistic organizations, as well as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Arlem Desir. -06B-