Azeri leader advises jailed pressure group members to appeal against sentence

ANS TV, Baku
2 Sep 04

[Presenter] The head of state, who is on a visit to Naxcivan
[Azerbaijani exclave], has commented in an interview with reporters
on the ruling of [Baku’s] Nasimi district court on the members of
the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO].

[Video of Aliyev, talking to reporters] Of course, as the president
I cannot intervene in the ruling of the court and I do not want to do
so. But as a citizen I believe that the punishment is not relevant to
what they did. This is an extremely severe punishment. As a citizen I
cannot support the verdict. I think that the next judicial instance
should reconsider the verdict. I would advise [the convicted KLO
members] to appeal against the ruling and I hope that the issue can
be settled in the next instance. At the same time, everybody should
be equal before the law and one should not idolize any organization
or person.

There are authoritative bodies and persons in Azerbaijan to deal with
the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict: the president,
foreign minister, defence minister, other appropriate bodies. And we
know what is the way to struggle.