Theologian Elshan Mustafaoglu released earlier in Azerbaijan

A court in Azerbaijan granted a request for conditional early relief for Shiite theologian Elshan Mustafaoglu, who was serving his sentence in a case on espionage for Iran. Theologian has been released from custody.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on December 30, 2016, a court in Baku found Elshan Mustafaoglu guilty of spying for Iran and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment. Elshan Mustafaoglu himself pleaded not guilty and claimed there were falsifications in the case against him.

Today, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent has been informed by Arzu Abdulla, the head of the Committee for the Protection of the Islamists’ Rights, that Elshan Mustafaoglu was released on June 23. According to Arzu Abdulla, the court granted the theologian’s request for a commutation of sentence and conditional early relief (CER) after the convict had served three-quarters of the sentence.

Elshan Gasanov, the coordinator of the “Union for Freedom to Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan” and the head of the “Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners”, called the release of the theologian gratifying. “From the very beginning, we had great doubts about the credibility of the accusation. A subsequent study of the Elshan Mustafaoglu’s case confirmed that the charges were far-fetched and that he was the latest victim in another campaign of repression against Shia believers. We recognized him as a political prisoner,” Elshan Gasanov told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 24, 2022 at 03:33 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.