14:47, 15 July 2008

Journalists' community of Azerbaijan disappointed with results of Halil's trial

Today, the international journalists' organization "Reporters Without Borders" made a statement, expressing a regret that the trial in Azerbaijan on the case of attack on Agil Halil, a journalist of the "Azadlyg" (Freedom) newspaper, resulted in punishing the person who had nothing to do with the incident.

"On Tuesday, the Nasiminskiy District Court of Baku sentenced Sergey Strekalin to 18 months for attacking Agil Halil on March 13 this year. However, the victim himself and the general country's public were confident that the convict had no attitude to the crime, but was used to discredit the journalist," says the statement of the "Reporters Without Borders" that is now at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We are extremely upset that the inquiry into the armed attack on Halil has found Strekalin, while true criminals remained aside," the statement runs.

Author: Faik Medzhid, CK correspondent