Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan's top court has upheld the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to release a jailed newspaper editor.

The Supreme Court dropped the charges of threatening terror and inciting ethnic hatred brought against Eynulla Fatullayev, the founder and editor of two Azerbaijani newspapers.

Fatullayev, the editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani-language daily Gundalik Azerbaijan, was sentenced in 2007 to eight-and-a-half years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic and religious hatred, threatening terror, and tax evasion. The ECHR issued a ruling in April calling for an immediate release of the jailed journalist, claiming that Fatullayev’s rights had been violated and that the national courts had failed to amply substantiate their rulings.

After the Supreme Court reviewed the case, public prosecutor, Deputy Prosecutor-General Namig Asgarov sought a jail sentence of two years and three months for Fatullayev on charges of tax evasion, but the court ruled to release the journalist, considering that he has already spent this term in jail.

However, the Supreme Court ruling does not drop the charges of drug posession against Fatullayev.

Fatullayev was found in possession of 0.22 grams of heroin in his jail cell last December. He claimed the drugs had been planted to keep him in prison.