Azerbaijani blogger Abid Gafarov sentenced to one year in prison

A court in Baku has sentenced Abid Gafarov to one year in prison, finding him guilty of slander and insult. His defence announced Gafarov's unlawful prosecution.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that veterans of the second Karabakh war had filed a lawsuit against Abid Gafarov, the head of the "Baku unity" Association and the author of the KIM TV YouTube* channel. Their claims were provoked by Gafarov's reproach that veterans failed to fight for their rights.

"This is an obvious execution of the order. Abid Gafarov believes that this is due to exposure by him of law enforcers' crimes against the figurants in the so-called 'Terter case'," Elchin Sadygov, an advocate has stated.

"Abid Gafarov was punished for telling the truth about the Terter events, and about those tortured to death. One of them was my son Elchin Guliev," Valida Gulieva has stated.

Gafarov is being persecuted because of his public activities and exposures within the "Terter case", said Ali Kerimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA).

"On his KIM TV channel, he paid great attention to exposing the crimes committed within the 'Terter case', in particular, the torture of the defendants," Mr Kerimli has stated.

"Gafarov is being punished for supporting the demands of the relatives of the victims of the 'Terter case' to punish the perpetrators," Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, the head of the Institute for Public Policy, has added.