Another Azerbaijani journalist is sentenced to five years

On January 29 the Absheron District Court sentenced an employee of the newspaper “Azadlig” and the announcer of the online program “Azerbaijani hour” Seymour Ghazi to five years in prison, finding him guilty of hooliganism. Contact.az news agency informs about this. Another defendant in the case of Muharram Hasanov, Hazy provoked a fight, was only six months in prison. The journalist’s lawyer Adil Ismailov in his concluding remarks, said that during the trial defense denied all the charges and evidence. Moreover, the witnesses in the case and the so-called victims denied the charges.

Normal court must justify Hazy. Otherwise, it means that journalists are persecuted for political reasons, as an opposition party activist and critic of the authorities. Hazy himself again said that he did not return the text of the last words, which were taken away yesterday in jail.

“My grandfathers were repressed in 1937. Now we are repressed system created KGB general Heydar Aliyev. Our struggle is not a struggle of power and the opposition, and good and evil. State based on law and justice, and we will restore the state in Azerbaijan,” said Ghazi. He further compared the regime in Azerbaijan with Jacobin dictatorship, but the judge Shovket Najafova interrupted him calling to speak on the merits.

However, Ghazi said that his arrest was ordered by Ilham Aliyev, and head of the administration Mehdiyev for what programs “Azerbaijani hour”, he denounced the crimes of the government. After the meeting, the judge announced the verdict: Hazy found guilty under article 221.3 (hooliganism) and received 5 years of imprisonment with the content in jail. Hasanov was sentenced to total six months of imprisonment under the same article. Earlier, the prosecutor asked to sentence Ghazi to six years in prison, and Hasanov to nine months in prison.

On 29 August, 2014 at a bus stop Muharram came up to Hasanov, and insulted him. Then he attacked Hazi and began to beat him. For his own protection, Hazy hit the assailant with a bottle in his hand. Immediately the police came, detained Hazy, and took him to the police. Hazy Seymour is one of the leading analysts of the opposition newspaper “Azadlig”, as well as the announcer of the online TV “Azerbaijan Saati”, which sharply criticizes the government.