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Thursday, 12 February 2004
SUPREME COURT REJECTS AZERBAIJANI SECESSIONIST\'S APPEAL
By empty (2/12/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Alikram Gumbatov -- who in June 1993 declared an independent Talysh-Mughan Republic in southeastern Azerbaijan -- against the life sentence handed down to him in July 2003 on charges of seizing power, abusing his official position, and creating an illegal armed formation. That sentence was the culmination of a retrial demanded by the Council of Europe, which considers Gumbatov a political prisoner. On 12 February, the online newspaper zerkalo.
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Alikram Gumbatov -- who in June 1993 declared an independent Talysh-Mughan Republic in southeastern Azerbaijan -- against the life sentence handed down to him in July 2003 on charges of seizing power, abusing his official position, and creating an illegal armed formation. That sentence was the culmination of a retrial demanded by the Council of Europe, which considers Gumbatov a political prisoner. On 12 February, the online newspaper zerkalo.az quoted Gumbatov\'s lawyer Elman Osmanov as saying that the European Court of Human Rights will review Gumbatov\'s case as an urgent priority. On 6 February, zerkalo.az predicted that President Ilham Aliyev will formally pardon Gumbatov, who is seriously ill with tuberculosis. (RFE/RL)