YEREVAN, SETEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Anne Brasseur, expressed her concerns over the decision of the court to imprison the Azerbaijani journalist, employee of Azerbaijan’s office of “Radio Liberty”, Khadija Ismailova. “Armenpress” reports that the Azerbaijani Contact.az website informs about this.

“I have already expressed serious doubts on several occasions about the credibility of the charges against her. Today’s sentence is manifestly disproportionate and raises serious concerns, given the systemic problems with the lack of independence of the judiciary and fairness of trials in Azerbaijan,” mentioned Brasseur.

She announced that it is high time to stop the repressions of the civil society representatives, human rights defenders and independent journalists and urged the Azerbaijani authorities to take a step back. “Willingness of Azerbaijani authorities to respect the fundamental values of the Council of Europe is now seriously in question”, mentioned the PACE President, adding that she will raise this issue with Azerbaijan’s Speaker of Majlis Ogtay Asadov.

Famous journalist, Azerbaijani service “Radio Liberty” employee Khadija Ismayilova’s verdict was announced at Baku Court on Grave Crimes on September 1. Khadija Ismayilova was sentenced to imprisonment of 7 years and 6 months being deprived of the right to occupy senior positions for 3 years. The Court found Khadija Ismayilova not guilty for article 125 (inciting to commit suicide) noting that there was not enough evidence on that.

Ismayilova is the author of investigative journalism on corruption in the upper echelons of Azerbaijan authorities, as a result of which Ilham Aliyev’s and his family’s offshore zone property of hundreds of millions dollars was revealed.