12 July 2014, 20:52
RWB: Council of Europe should react to increased repression against critics of Azerbaijani authorities
The international organization in defence of the media "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) has condemned the 5-year conviction of the 19-year-old blogger Omar Mamedov, says the RWB's statement released in the evening on July 11. The document urged the bodies of justice to remove the absurd charges against the blogger at the court of appeal.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 4 the blogger Omar Mamedov was sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of illegal possession and sale of drugs. Mamedov was one of the administrators of the Facebook pages entitled "Collections from AzTV" and "Geidar Aliev", where they posted cartoons and satirical texts about the authorities of Azerbaijan.
"Omar Mamedov is a victim of a politically manipulated court, the aim of which was to silence any criticism of the authorities," says the RWB's statement, received by the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".
The statement further notes that bloggers are thrown into prisons in Azerbaijan, despite the recent statement by President Ilham Aliev at the PACE session on June 25 that his country has a "free Internet". The RWB asserts that the authorities are regularly using flimsy charges of possession or distribution of drugs in order to punish opposition activists.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
