Sabail District Court sentenced the captain of football club “Qabala”, Cavid Huseynov, to 4 years imprisonment for his criminal involvement in the death of journalist Rasim Aliyev under articles 307.1 (failure to inform on preparation of a serious crime) and 307.2 (concealment of a grave crime) of the Criminal Codex.
Turan News Agency reported that Cavid Huseynov’s friends attacked the journalist as revenge for the journalist’s criticism of Huseynov, who made an inappropriate gesture during an interview with a foreign journalist.
After publication of this criticism on Facebook, the journalist began receiving threats from Huseyonv’s brother. Huseynov himself called the journalist to “deal” with this situation. Before his death, the deceased journalist reported that Huseynov had offered him reconciliation. However, when he arrived at the designated meeting point, he was cruelly beaten up.
This took place on August 8th, 2015. One day later, Rasim Aliev passed away in the hospital. Five men involved in the beating were sentenced to imprisonment on terms ranging from 9 – 13 years each.
Relatives of the journalist claim that Cavid Huseynov was the mastermind of the crime, and do not agree with what they perceive as too light a sentence. Moreover, they are concerned that the football player might be released from prison under the terms of the recently adopted Amnesty Act that was passed by parliament earlier in May.
