Azerbaijan
on Monday released an activist jailed last year after taking part in
anti-government protests just two days before US Secretary of State Hilary
Clinton's visit to Baku.
Activist
Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was jailed in May 2011 for two years after using social media
site Facebook to garner support for a democracy movement in the former Soviet
country. Hajiyev headed an Arab Spring-inspired wave of peaceful demonstrations
throughout the country.
"I am
delighted to be released, but I repeat today that I do not agree with the
charges on which I was arrested," Hajiyev told news agency AFP after his
early release.
The
country's Supreme Court decided on Monday that Hajiyev would be freed early for
good behaviour after serving half of his two-year jail term.
US senators
last month demanded Hajiyev's immediate release, saying his arrest and
incarceration was a violation of freedom of expression and association.
Educated at
Harvard, Hajiyev said his "arrest was politically motivated," and
vowed to return to political activism. He stood as an independent candidate at
parliamentary elections in November 2010, where he condemned President Ilham
Aliyev and claimed the polls were rigged.
International
election observers called the vote flawed, but Aliyev's governing party which
won by a landslide said the election "conformed to European
standards."
Rights
activists in the country accuse Aliyev's ruling party of jailing opponents and
gagging the media, cracking down on dissent, although the government insisted
the country is free and democratic.
A number of
protests broke out in Baku last month as the capital hosted the Eurovision Song
Contest. Human rights violations, media censorship and democratic inadequacy's
in the country gained unprecedented international media coverage during the
event.
jlw/rc (AP, AFP, dpa)
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