Today, 9 November, in the Baku Appellate Court, under the chairmanship of Rasul Safarov, a hearing was held on “Azadlig” newspaper’s editor-in-chief Ganimat Zahid’s appeal from the decision of the Azizbayov District Court adopted on his lawsuit to supersede the remainder of his prison term with lighter punishment.
Elchin Sadigov said that the Azizbayov District Court did not fulfill the lawsuit on the basis of formal conclusions put forth by prison #17.
According to the opinion given by the prison, Ganimat Zahid’s punishment cannot be mitigated because he did not join the volleyball competition in prison, he was willing to conduct secret correspondence, and he did not participate in education programs.
E.Sadigov noted that Sevgilada Guliyeva, who caused G.Zahid’s imprisonment, was accused of possession of narcotics and for robbery in September of this year.
Alayif Hasanov said that the reason of G.Zahid`s refusal to play volleyball was related to his health problem.
Representative of prison #17 Anar Karimov said that the release of G.Zahid is impossible because he does not admit his fault.
State Plaintiff Elgun Gafarov said that G.Zahid has not been reformed yet, and objected to the substitution of Ganimat Zahid`s punishment for lighter punishment.The Judge issued a decision not to fulfill the lawsuit.Ganimat Zahid filed a lawsuit to serve the rest of his punishment in freedom since one third of his prison term is over. However, the Azizbayov District Court did not fulfill the lawsuit. Tomorrow, 10 November, two years will have passed since G.Zahid`s arrest.
Ganimat Zahid was convicted under articles 127.2.3 (hooliganism with intentional infliction of minor bodily harm) and 221 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code and imprisoned for four years.