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The European Union condemned the verdict against the Azerbaijani NGO leader Hasan Huseynli. The statement was published on the official website of the EU.

“We have learned with concern that Hasan Huseynli, leader of a respected NGO in Azerbaijan, has been harshly sentenced to a lengthy prison term by the Ganja Court on 14 July 2014 on alleged charges of 'hooliganism',” reads the statement.

“We call on Azerbaijan to act in line with its responsibility as the current chair of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers and to honour the obligations and commitments to which it has subscribed as a Member of the Council of Europe,” the article notes.

In addition the article published in the US organization EurasiaNet website reads, that according to Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Huseynli’s March arrest was based on trumped-up charges and the investigation was completely unlawful and absurd.

Azerbaijani news agency Turan reports that some allegedly have speculated that the presidentially appointed mayor of Ganja, Elmar Veliyev, got irritated by Huseynli's youth-organization activities, and become the real cause of these criminal charges, the EurasiaNet reports.

“Previously, Huseynli was the head of Ganja Education Information Center established in 1998. The center helped young Azerbaijanis organizing various youth-related activities to encourage civil society in western Azerbaijan,” writes the author of the article.

Local human rights defenders consider the charges against Huseynli to be part of a larger crackdown on civil society that picked up steam in November 2013, soon after Ilham Aliyev started his third term in office.

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 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.

Azerbaijani Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) published a list of political prisoners 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.