MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Javid Huseynov, an international Azerbaijani football player, was sentenced to four years in jail for links to the killing of a journalist who had criticised him on social media.

The 28-year old former captain of the Gabala football team and a regular player in Azerbaijan’s national team, was found guilty of failing to inform the authorities about the planned attack on sports journalist Rasim Aliyev. The men who attacked and beat Aliyev on a street in Baku last year have already been imprisoned for his killing.

But supporters of Aliyev, who was also known for his human rights activities, said that the four year sentence for Huseynov was too light.

Arzu Geybullayeva, an Istanbul- based Azerbaijani journalist and political analyst, said the verdict was disrespectful to the family of the victim.

“Innocent people in Azerbaijan get sentenced to six, seven or eight years for nothing without any evidence and yet somehow he gets away with just four years for a crime where there is plenty of evidence,” Ms Geybullayeva told the Conway Bulletin. “I think this simply indicates how crooked and unjust our court system is and how it is also disproportionate.”