Azerbaijani lawyer sentenced to one year of correctional labor

Well-known Azerbaijani lawyer Aslan Ismayilov has been convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to one year correctional labour with a monthly retention of 20% of his wages. In addition, he was fined 1,500 manat (about $882).

The Turan News Agency reported that Ismayilov denied the charges against him.

Who is Aslan Ismayilov?

Ismayilov is one of the most well-known lawyers in Azerbaijan. In the early 1990s, he was the chief adviser to the legal department of the presidential administration. His name often appears in connection with various high-profile political affairs. He is known for acting as public prosecutor in the 1989 Baku trial concerning the Armenian pogroms in Sumgayit. After that he wrote a book called Sumgayit – the beginning of the collapse of the USSR.

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The charges

A criminal case was launched against Ismailov in October 2017. The prosecution claimed that, after the Binagadi court refused to accept Ismayilov’s lawsuit against the head of the Musavat party, the lawyer insulted the judge and the chairman of the court, and slammed the door so hard that it broke.

Ismayilov’s account

The lawyer believes that prosecutor general Zakir Garalov and presidential aide Ali Hasanov ordered the case against him.

“They want to punish me for exposing the open selling of drugs in pharmacies, illegal activities in Baku’s casinos and gambling establishments, and corruption at the National Oncology Centre,” Ismayilov said.

This is the second sentence imposed on Ismayilov this year. In July, he was sentenced to one and a half years of correctional labour on charges of defamation against Baku restaurateur Murvat Hasanov.

Ismayilov said the conviction at the time was also made with ulterior motives.