New York based Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement after Nasimi District Court in Baku sentenced Sergei Strekalin to 18 months in prison for stabbing Azadlyg newspaper reporter Agil Khalil in March. Khalil says Strekalin was not his attacker.

“This trial was nothing but sloppy theater designed to mask the real motive of the attack on Agil Khalil - his work as a journalist,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova.

“Azerbaijan authorities cannot now pretend that this case is closed. They must bring the real attackers to justice”, says Nina Ognianova.