In Azerbaijan, editor-in-chief of "Tezadlar" sentenced to a year in prison

Today, the Yasamal District Court has sentenced Asif Marzili, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Tezadlar" (Contrasts), to one year of imprisonment.

The journalist was found guilty under Article 147 ("Slander") and was arrested right in the courtroom. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by his wife - Yasyamyan Mamedova.

An independent journalist Zumrud Mamedova was sentenced to 6 months of forced labour for an interview that she gave to this newspaper.

The editor-in-chief and the journalist were brought to criminal liability under the claim of Elshad Abdullaev, rector of a private higher school - Azerbaijani International University (AIU).

According to the wife of the editor-in-chief, the pretext for Abdullaev's suit was a series of articles published in "Tezadlar" in early 2009 on the facts of illegal recruiting of students and issuance of faked diplomas.

Yasyamyan Mamedova has noted that Marzili was sure of his rightness and did not even hire an advocate.

Emin Guseinov, Director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), in his comments on the court judgement to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, treated the verdict as "unfair and too severe."

"The 'Tezadlar' was a harmless non-political newspaper. Therefore, passing this severe verdict to its editor-in-chief on the day when Rapporteurs of the PACE's Monitoring Committee Andres Herkel and Evgeniya Zhivkova arrive to Baku is a demonstrative step - the official Baku wouldn't take the Council of Europe's criticism into account," said Mr Guseinov.