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Khadija Ismayilova's Sentence Suspended After Supreme Court Decision

Khadija Ismayilova was arrested December 5, based on article 125 of the Criminal Court (inciting to suicide).

On May 25, following Supreme Court Decision journalist Khadija Ismayilova's sentence was suspended. Acquitted of article 179 (appropriation) and 308 (abuse of power), Ismayilova is still facing charges of illegal entrepreneurship, and tax evasion.

On September 1, the Baku Court for Grave Crimes sentenced Khadija Ismayil to 7 years and 6 months in jail. She was acquitted for the "incitement to attempt suicide" charge and found guilty on charges of tax evasion, embezzlement and misappropriation, abuse of power, and illegal enterpreneurship.

On February 23, under the decision handed by the Binegedi District Court Judge Sedreddin Haciyev, investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova was found guilty based on the article 147.2 of the Criminal Code (slander). She was fined in the amount of 2,500Manat.

On February 13, Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General Office issued a series of additional charges against an award- winning investigative reporter Ismayilova. She is facing up to 19 years if convicted for embezzlement, tax evasion, illegal business and abuse of power.

On January 27, Sabail District Court ruled to keep Khadija Ismayil in jail for another two months. On February 5, her two-months sentence was going to finalize.

Azerbaijani government claimed there were no political motives in Ismayilova's case.

Azadliq Radio believes Ismayilova's arrest is the result of her work, investigating illegal businesses of Azerbaijani government officials.

Ismayilova, journalist and host of daily show After Work was arrested December 5 by the order of the Sabail District Court of Baku on charges brought by the prosecutor office.

She was sentenced to two months of pre-trial detention based on Article 125 of the Criminal Code (inciting to suicide) on December 5.

Her apartment was searched on December 6.

This is live blog of RFE/RL Azerbaijani Service with the most recent updates on the case.

NOTE*: Timestamps are local time in Baku

16:35 15.1.2016

While in jail, Khadija Ismayil is counting the numbers of arrested amid the financial crisis

During her meeting with lawyer Yalchin Imanov on January 14, Khadija said she was following the news of arrests and riots closely. She also informed Imanov that she was keeping tabs on the numbers of arrested men:

"Khadija said, that currently data she has compiled is the following:

- 55 people arrested for protesting price hikes;

- 3 men are accused of raising prices;

- and "0" men were arrested for actually causing the financial crisis".

Khadija also told her lawyer she was not so happy that her projections she made about the current situation some time ago were coming true. "Because my country has turned into a textbook on failed oil states".

She also shared an interesting observation with her lawyer from prison:

"When I ask prisoners accused of illegal sale of drugs and smuggling about why never protest public injustice but rather break rules and engage in criminal activities the answer is usually more or less the same: when one breaks a law, it is possible to make money off of it. Secondly, you can pay your way out of it with that money in case you get caught. When protesting public injustice not only you have no financial revenues, but you also cannot pay your way out".

Imanov said, Khadija was in good spirits and passed her regards and greetings to her friends.

17:28 18.12.2015

December 16, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, held a hearing "Azerbaijan's persecution of RFE/RL reporter Khadija Ismayilova".

The hearing examined the conduct of the trial against Khadija Ismayilova. And looked whether or not the U.S. Government done all it could to secure her release and to address the closing of the Baku bureau of RFE/RL in December 2014.

Presiding over the hearing, Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe raised a number of important questions with regard to Khadija Ismayilova's case.

​Some of the highlights from the hearing:

Judicial processes against political prisoners are often farcical. In Khadija’s case, the prosecutors charged her initially with, quote, “incitement to suicide.” Their case completely collapsed when their witness retracted. The prosecutor also charged that she had illegally signed service agreements with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty employees. The prosecution never produced any of the 11 agreements they said she had signed, and the four witnesses called to testify for the government’s case denied that they had signed such agreements with Khadija.

Smith: "Over the years, the human rights situation has seriously deteriorated in Azerbaijan, causing damage to its relations with the United States and other countries, and damaged its own society by imprisoning or exiling some of the best and the bravest and the brightest of that country. The time has come to send a clear message."

"Today, the Council of Europe is sending the same message to Azerbaijan. The secretary-general announced that he is investigating the human rights situation in Azerbaijan to determine whether or not Azerbaijan is meeting their Council of Europe commitments. This is a very rare step for the Council of Europe, and it’s the first time that this secretary-general has launched this type of inquiry. "

Senator Cardin: "The situation for civil society in Azerbaijan has only deteriorated further since her arrest. Azerbaijan’s new regulations on NGO registration, and specifically NGOs’ ability to receive funding from outside sources, are so restricted that almost all of the independent NGOs that have been working in Azerbaijan’s multilateral stakeholder group for EITI can no longer operate. I don’t see how Azerbaijan can maintain its status as a complaint country under these circumstances, something that we should be pushing hard for. We need to see much greater space for independent NGOs and journalists to operate for the EITI process to achieve its true value."

The full transcript is available here.

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