Rights defenders point to political motives in Aslanov's and Sadygov's cases

The Committee against Repressions and Torture sees political motives in the cases of the Azerbaijani journalists, Polad Aslanov and Afghan Sadygov, and demanded to stop prosecuting them.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 16, 2020, the court sentenced Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Internet editions "Xeberman.com" and "Press-az.com", to 16 years in prison within the treason case. From February 1, 2021, until March 3, the journalist has been on a hunger strike, demanding that his case be closed. On November 3, 2020, Afghan Sadygov, the editor-in-chief of the "Azel.tv" news portal, was sentenced to seven years in prison within an extortion case. Since November 3, 2020, he is also on a hunger strike in protest against his verdict.

The Azerbaijani Committee against Repressions and Torture has issued a statement in defence of Afghan Sadygov and Polad Aslanov. "Having discussed the results of the monitoring of the criminal cases and trials against both journalists, our Committee finds it necessary to share its findings with the local and international community, namely, that our both colleagues were arrested on trumped-up and politically motivated charges," Namizad Safarov, the coordinator of the above Committee, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Human rights defenders have called on the authorities to reconsider the journalists' cases, ensure an objective investigation and release them.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 3, 2021 at 08:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.