Azerbaijani journalist asks for political asylum in Russia

Sardar Alibeili, editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Nota Bene newspaper, has applied for political asylum in Russia and lodged a respective petition to the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Azerbaijan. The journalist's close relatives have informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it. The motivation of the decision was Alibeili's fear about his safety and freedom.

The point is that on January 30 this year Mr. Alibeili was convicted to 18 months of conditional custody under the suit filed by Ramil Usubov, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The court found Alibeili and Faramaz Allahverdiev, another newspaper employee, guilty of slander under Article 147 of the Criminal Code. Mr. Allahverdiev was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment.

Attempts to challenge the verdict at various judicial instances gave no result, which is another motive for Alibeili's search of political asylum.

Meanwhile, the World Committee for Freedom of Press has sent a statement to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev on the occasion. The statement runs that the arrest during a short period of time of seven journalists was the reason to qualify Azerbaijan as the country with the highest pressure on the freedom of speech.