Azerbaijan satisfies appeal of municipality head
Azerbaijan, Baku, April 16 / Trend H. Bagirov /
Azerbaijan has partially satisfied the appeal of a municipality head accused of corruption.
Today, the Baku Appeals Court announced its decision on the appeal of Zafar Masimov, who was previouslu the municipality head of the Khojahasan settlement in Baku's Binagadi district.
According to the court, the Baku Heinous Crimes Court's decision has been changed and Masimov was instead sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment. He was earlier sentenced to three years.
In 2007, Masimov made an illegal decision to transfer 400 square meters of state land in the Binagadi district to Khanlar Dadashov.
Masimov was accused under articles 179 (Misappropriation), 311 (Bribe-Taking) and 314 (Negligence) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code.
Although Masimov said in his testimony that he did not take any bribes, he recognized that he admitted his negligence.
In 2008, the Justice Ministry looked into 16,000 municipal acts, and returned roughly 6,000 hectares of land allocated illegally to municipalities.
Some municipality heads have been prosecuted.
