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Azerbaijani faces terrorist propaganda charge in Georgia for anti-Armenian Facebook post

25 June 2018 10:48 (UTC +04:00)

Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani origin Orkhan Abbas face terrorist propaganda charge for his anti-Armenian post on Facebook.

Orkhan Abbas told APA’s Georgia bureau that in his Facebook post he had called Azerbaijanis living in Georgia to stage a protest rally and burn the Armenian flag outside the Armenian Embassy instead of holding a support campaign in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tbilisi.

The Azerbaijani man said he was summoned to the Georgian State Security Service on April 21, 2016.

"After being interrogated for 10 hours there, I was informed a criminal case had been filed against me. In April this year, I was again summoned to the Service and in May the first court hearing on the case was held. The issue of detention was raised under the possibility of escaping to Azerbaijan. After the attorneys raised their objections, I was released for a ransom of 6,000 laris. Because my family could not afford to pay it, we offered as a mortgage an area of land owned by my brother,” he added.

Orkhan Abbas noted that the final hearing in the criminal case was held on June 20, saying the public prosecutor sought 2 to 6 years in prison for him.

“The trial is proceeding and the next hearing is scheduled for July 3. The criminal case brought against me is too unfair and absurd. I’m far from terrorism and radicalism,” he said.

Orkhan Abbas thinks that he is facing discrimination due to being Muslim and an ethnic Azeri.