Avaz Zeynalli

Avaz Zeynalli

Avaz Zeynalli is the editor-in-chief and founder of the Xural newspaper. He was arrested on October 28, 2011 and accused of trying to extort money from an Azerbaijani MP, Gular Ahjmadova, who has since been charged with involvement in a corruption scam. Zeynalli has been in detention ever since. His arrest came a week after he wrote an article criticizing the country's President. Two days later, a court sanctioned the confiscation of the newspaper's property and it was then sold without Zeynalli's knowledge. On March 12, 2013 he was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of extortion and tax evasion, after a trial in which no evidence substantiating those charges was ever presented to the court.

Avaz Zeynalli was RELEASED on December 29, 2014 after receiving a pardon.

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Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
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