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The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has ruled to release IntigamAliyev, a rights defender, who headedthe Legal Education Society, local Turan news agency reports.

Lawyer FarizNamazli told the agency that the Supreme Court has imposed 5 years’ suspended sentence on IntigamAliyev and released him. The meeting of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, which discussed the cassational protest for mitigation of the humanrights lawyer’s punishment, started on 28 March at 12:00 o’clock of the local time.

Only two lawyers, JavadJavadov and ShahlaGumbatova, were permitted to be present at the plenum meeting. The representatives of the media, public and diplomatic missions were not allowed to enter the room. The procedure was not a closed one;however, unauthorised people’s presence at the plenary meetingsof theSupremeCourt is not a practice applied there, according to the report.

Earlier, there were reports about the country's Prosecutor General, ZakirGaralov, filing a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court because of the extremely severe sentence on IntigamAliyev. Turanheld that the reason for “this performance” is the forthcoming visit of the President IlhamAliyev to the US, where “an explanation for the crackdown on civil society will be demanded from him.”

On 22 April 2015, Azerbaijani human rights defender and the leader of the Legal Education Society, IntigamAliyev, was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months imprisonment under Articles 213.1 (tax evasion), 308.2 (abuse of power with grave consequences), 192.2 (illegal entrepreneurship) and 179.3.2 (embezzlement) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. FaridNagiyev, the prosecutor, offered to condemn Aliyev to 10 years imprisonment in penal colony. IntigamAliyevwas arrested on 8 August 2014. International rights groups claim that Aliyev was arrested on trumped up charges and that his human rights activities were the real reason for the persecutions. He has introduced applications of over 100 victims of alleged rights violations to the European Court of Human rights.

On March 17, Azerbaijan’s President IlhamAliyev signed a decree of pardon, due to which a part of the almost 100 political prisoners was released. Rashad Hasanov, Muhammad Azizov, RashadatAkhundov, activists of the movement N!DA; TofigYagublu and YadigarSadigli, deputy chairmen of the party Musavat; rights defenders RasulJafarov, TalehKhasmammadov, AnarMammadli and HilalMammadov; oppositionist NeimatPanahli; blogger Omar Mammadov; SirajKarimli, who was recognized a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International; AkifMuradverdiyev, former head of the Executive Office of the President; and the journalist ParvizHashimli are among the pardoned prisoners.