Today, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan partially satisfied the complaint of blogger Aslan Gurbanov to toughen the punishment. The two-year term in the Gobustan prison was reduced to one year.
Aslan Gurbanov was arrested by the State Security Service in 2020 and charged with anti-state appeals and ethnic hatred (Articles 281.2 and 283.1 of the Criminal Code). The court sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment.
According to relatives, Gurbanov published appeals in defense of the Talysh. “Some of his social media posts were emotional, but he was always loyal to his country,” his father said. Human rights activists recognized Gurbanov as a political prisoner.
In December 2021, at the request of the jail N 10, the Narimanov court transferred him to Gobustan prison for two years for violations of the regime. The Baku Court of Appeal upheld this decision, the defense filed a cassation with the Supreme Court.
According to the lawyer Fariz Namazli, in the course of the trial it was pointed out that the arguments of the leadership of the janil N10 on toughening the punishment were unfounded. The administration motivated its demand by the fact that Aslanov maintains contacts with “negative prisoners, does not follow the rules of the internal order, does not follow instructions, smokes in the wrong place.” However, no evidence was presented.
“Unfortunately, the court only partially satisfied the complaint, reducing the sentence to one year in Gobustan prison,” Namazli said.
Aslan Gurbanov’s brother Abusam expressed fear for the convict’s health. “My brother suffers from epilepsy, keeping him in a confined space threatens his life and health. Our family asks the leadership of the country to intervene and help restore justice to Aslan,” said the brother of the convict.