Nargiz Mukhtarova was sentenced to a conditional term.
The court in Baku sentenced activist Nargiz Mukhtarova to 7.5 years of conditional imprisonment on charges of legalizing illegal income. She did not plead guilty.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on March 12, Mukhtarova testified in the Baku Serious Crimes Court and rejected the charges of legalizing income obtained through criminal means.
Head of the Human Rights Institute Bashir Suleymanly, activists Galib Bayramov and Nargiz Mukhtarova are involved in a case against "a number of local and foreign NGOs," initiated back in 2014. They are charged under criminal articles "legalization of large amounts of income obtained through criminal means," "abuse of official powers," and "official forgery," which carry penalties of up to 12 years in prison. Their cases are being considered separately in court.
The process in the Baku Serious Crimes Court regarding Nargiz Mukhtarova concluded on July 9. The state prosecutor, in his closing statement, proposed to drop the charges against Mukhtarova under Article 313 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. The prosecutor justified this by stating that the statute of limitations for prosecution under this article had expired, an activist observing the process told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".
Additionally, the prosecutor referred to the fact that Mukhtarova had not been previously convicted, she has a higher education, and she has a minor child. He requested that all this be considered mitigating circumstances and that Mukhtarova be sentenced to eight years of conditional imprisonment. According to a source, the court sentenced Mukhtarova to 7.5 years of conditional imprisonment with a probation period of three years.
Mukhtarova herself does not consider herself guilty. "The investigative materials contain all the documents that I provided myself. These are statements from my account at the 'International Bank of Azerbaijan.' The account was opened in my name officially as an individual entrepreneur, and funds were received for services provided within the framework of educational projects. I signed a service contract with the American organization Mercy Corps, and the source of the funds received as a donor was directly the U.S. State Department. Thus, this cannot be about legalizing income obtained through criminal means. It is obvious that there is no crime in this case. But we all know our realities, so I did not believe in the possibility of an acquittal," Mukhtarova said, commenting on the results of the trial.
If there are no claims against Mukhtarova regarding the execution of the conditional sentence during the probation period, the total sentence will be considered served, explained a Baku lawyer specializing in criminal law issues.
"For Nargiz Mukhtarova, in the realities of Azerbaijan, a lenient sentence has actually been handed down. In the NGO case, several people, including activists Asef Akhmedov and Zamin Zaki, have received real sentences. And in general, in cases related to grant funding, courts issue harsh sentences, but Mukhtarova's case is special: her husband Farid Mehralizade has already been sentenced to a long term in the Abzas Media case. Sending his wife, a young woman and mother of a minor child, to prison as well would have been too harsh; it would not even be understood by politically indifferent people. In any case, this court decision can be considered a favorable outcome in the context of Azerbaijani reality," the lawyer told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" on condition of anonymity.