BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – A court in Azerbaijan on Wednesday ordered a prominent investigative journalist to be released on probation following a storm of international protests about her case, which has been widely seen as an attempt to silence a critical voice.
Khadija Ismayilova has become a symbol of defiance, praised by human rights and free-speech organizations around the world. Her supporters say her conviction and prison sentence were retribution for her reports on alleged corruption involving President Ilham Aliyev and his family in the oil-rich former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea.
In September 2015, a court in Azerbaijan convicted Ismayilova, a contributor to U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, of several financial crimes and sentenced her to 7½ years in prison. On Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court cut her sentence to 3 ½ years and ordered her released on probation. The court also set a five-year testing period for her probation.
Ismayilova, who has remained in prison since her arrest in December 2014, is expected to walk free later Wednesday.
Rights groups have criticized the Azerbaijani government for cracking down on independent media and opposition activists. Several other journalists and rights activists also have been imprisoned in what has been widely seen as an effort by the government to stifle dissent.