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Today the Nizami Court of Ganja City sentenced the head of the NGO Center for Civic Education Intellectual, Hasan Huseynli. He was found guilty of disorderly conduct, illegal possession of knives and sentenced to six years' imprisonment, the Azerbaijani news agency Turan reported.

According to investigators, on March 31, Huseynli stabbed a resident of Ganja Arzu Gahramanov. However, in fact as Turan reports, an unknown approached Huseynli on the street and began insulting, provoking a fight. Huseynli realized that it was a provocation and did not answer and immediately called reporters and told them about the incident. Despite the fact that the prosecution did not confirm anything, on July 4 the prosecutor suggested sentencing Huseynli to 7 years in prison.

The human rights defenders are sure the true cause of Huseynli’s prosecution is the concern of the authorities with high influence of Huseynli on local youth that ignores formal events, preferring to meet with the human rights activist.

NGO Intelligent Citizen (ICEC) was founded in 2004. The organization received state registration in February 2009. The main mission of this NGO is the dissemination of ideas of an open society in the Western region of Azerbaijan. For this purpose, they conducted educational activities of civil society. Youth is the main target group of the projects.

On April 2, 2014 dozens of representatives of civil society of Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement on the arrest of Hasan Huseynli. The authors of the statement sharply condemn fraudulent accusations of Huseynli and his arrest, demanding his immediate release.

The statement reads that Huseynli’s NGO is known in the western region of the country for its promotion of democracy and human rights, as well as its implementation of educational programs and their enlightenment. Together with local and foreign organizations the Center has implemented more than 20 projects. The active work implemented by the Centre has raised fears of Ganja executive power, which did not find anything better than pressing on Huseynli.

Authors of the statement called Huseynli’s arrest a part of repression that started late last year against the independent NGOs. This is a violation and failure of Azerbaijan's commitments towards international structures.

Such repressions that occur on the eve of Azerbaijan's chairmanship at the CoE Committee of Ministers speak of disinterest of authorities in protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens.

On July 8, 2014 Azerbaijani human rights activists Novella Jafaroglu, Saida Gojamanli, Saadat Bananyarly Avaz Hasanov appealed to President Ilham Aliyev in connection with the arrest of the head of the Center of Education "Intelligent Citizen" Hasan Huseynli. All the prosecution is based on the testimony of Arzu Gahramanov and during the trial continued for 1 month no evidence of Huseynli’s guilt was presented.

The address indicates the contribution of Huseynli to civil society development in Ganja, conducting educational activities among the population, and the education of young staff. The authors of the appeal believe that the arrest of Huseynli on trumped up charges will be a blow to education of the younger generation. The authors of the appeal asked Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva to prevent the arrest of the well-known public activist.

Azerbaijani Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) published a list of political prisoners existing in the country. Thus, as of May 21, 2014 there are 130 victims of political repression in Azerbaijan: 41 prisoners of conscience and 89 political prisoners.