#Azerbaidjan : condamnation à 7 ans et demi de prison pour la journaliste Khadija Ismayilova
Azerbaijani investigative reporter faces more than 7 years in prison
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/azerbaijani-investigative-reporter-gets-jail-sentence-396951.html
Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who has written numerous hard-hitting stories on corruption in Azerbaijan, was today sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by the Azerbaijani authorities.
Ismayilova insists she is being imprisoned for her investigative work and that the charges lodged against her are fabricated, an assessment backed by civil society groups and media freedom organizations.
Her journalism for Kyiv Post partner Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other press outlets, included major exposes of graft and improper business links of those in the close circle of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, including his family members.
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Acquitted of the initial charge of incitement to attempt suicide, Ismayilova was convicted of embezzlement, tax evasion and running an illegal business at the RFE/RL bureau – charges she has called ridiculous.
“This case was a travesty. It has more in common with the Stalin show trials than modern justice,” says Drew Sullivan, editor of OCCRP. “It appears Khadija was convicted politically and not criminally for her reporting.”
OCCRP joins media freedom and human rights organizations worldwide to demand Ismayilova’s immediate release. Organizations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights have noted she is a political prisoner and her incarceration cannot be tolerated.