The journalist was charged for slander, tax invasion, illegal business and abuse of power; the trial at the Appeal Court was scheduled at 15:00 pm. People wishing to attend the hearing are gathering in front of the building entrance. Unlike the Baku Court on Grave Crimes people do not have to “struggle” physically to enter the building.
The courtroom soon got full. Khadija Ismaylova’s family members, journalists, local lawyers, activists and representatives of the US, French and German embassies took first seats in the hall. Afterwards other people were allowed to enter but suddenly the guards declared the hearing would be held in another room.
The convicted journalist was already in the second court room. Khadija Ismaylova joyfully greeted the people from glassy cabin. The room is smaller than the previous one that means there are fewer seats. The lawyers said it is well-appropriated method in the Azerbaijani court when high profile cases are held in small rooms to limit number of audience. 3-member jury entered the courtroom. The court guards surrounded the glass cabin to prevent Khadija and audience to see each other; it was protested by the people.
The judge requests silence in the room and starts trial. However, soon he declared the hearing was postponed because of the legislative norm which gives one-month term to Khadija to file lawsuit to the Cassation Court. The judge said this term should be completely expired before the Appeal Court starts hearing.
The Judge meant Articles 392-297 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Azerbaijan, which states that the Appeal Court works in two directions – it either reviews the judgment of the first instance court or examines the evidence and facts in the case materials. In parallel to that an individual can appeal to the cassation court within 1 month.
Khadija Ismaylova requested to study the evidence more carefully but she was refused. So, the judge gave her one month time to appeal his decision through cassation rule. Despite Khadija’s statement that she was not going to file a cassation suit and did not need this term, the judge postponed the process.
“Khadija refused to file a complaint to the cassation court and even if it did not happen, one-month is maximum term and in reality if you intend to appeal, you do not need so much time. Whenever we had similar case in our practice, we never needed one month to take our case to the appeal court,” Azerbaijani lawyer clarified.
Appeal court hearing into the case of Khadija Ismaylova, contributor of the Radio Liberty/Free Europe and investigative journalist, will take place on November 19. The journalist was convicted for four crimes. Besides imprisonment she was ordered to pay fine of 300 USD to cover court expenses. Khadija was banned to occupy position in public agency for three years.
Khadija Ismaylova was even accused of bringing a person to a point of suicide but the court acquitted her in it because the prosecutor had withdrawn the suit.
The investigative journalist has published many critical materials about business interests of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his family members. For that reason, she believes the criminal liability against her aimed to stop her journalistic activities.
Human Rights House wrote about the smear campaign against Ismaylova in its 2015 Report. It states that the government used various leverage against the journalist: video-footage of her private life was published, travel ban was imposed on her and government controlled media continued smear campaign against her which first launched in 2012.
In parallel to that other human rights defenders and leaders of other NGOs were arrested in Azerbaijan. According to international organizations, there are dozens of political prisoners in the country. In accordance to the Human Rights House 2015 report, the government arrested 33 human rights defenders on political grounds, 10 among them were journalists and bloggers. Equal charges were brought against all of them.
Ketevan Gvedashvili
