The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan held a hearing on the cassation appeal filed by the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Mr Zakir Garalov against the verdict on Mr Intigam Aliyev’s case, the imprisoned chairman of the Legal Education Society, non-governmental organisation functioning in Azerbaijan. The Supreme Court overruled previous sentence and ordered immediate release of the human rights lawyer and sentenced him to a 5-year probation sentence.

Mr Aliyev was arrested in August, 2014. On 22 April 2015, Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced him to 7.5 years of imprisonment on charges of illegal business, tax evasion, embezzlement, official forgery and abuse of office and deprived him of holding any positions for three years. The appeal filed by Mr Aliyev against the court verdict was dismissed and he submitted a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court.

Mr Aliyev is a prominent lawyer and human rights activist, author of many books and outstanding teacher who passed the values of human rights, democracy and rule of law to many young lawyers in the newest history of independent Azerbaijan. Mr Aliyev is also a national tutor of the Council of Europe’s HELP Programme.