Azernews.Az

An employee of Radio Liberty in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic arrested earlier on libel charges has been released. The top court on Tuesday cancelled the three-month detention previously ordered by a lower court.
The case against Ilgar Nasibov was dropped based on the defense's appeal. The plaintiff has withdrawn the plea, the judge said.
Nasibov had been prosecuted according to a lawsuit filed by the Nakhchivan police chief Sabuhi Novruzov.
Following the previous ruling issued by the city court on Thursday, the Radio Liberty head termed the charges brought against the journalist unfounded and called for his immediate release. Similar demands were put forth by the US Department of State, the Council of Europe, the Norwegian embassy in Baku, international media watchdogs Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, as well as rights groups.
After the journalist's apprehension, Radio Liberty appealed to the autonomous republic's leadership to set him free. Local authorities said they were unaware of Nasibov's employment with the broadcaster, but added that after the appeal was received they had embarked on efforts to facilitate his release.
Nonetheless, the judge issued another ruling, handing down a one-year suspended sentence to Nasibov based on the evidence found during a search in his home. An article libeling other persons was discovered in the hard drive of his computer, which was impounded on the day of the arrest.