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An Azerbaijani court annulled a jailed opposition journalist's 8-1/2 year sentence on an array of charges incuding terrorism on Tuesday, but sentenced him to 2 1/2 years for illegal drug possession.The decisions came after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in April that the imprisonment of Eynulla Fatullayev, who backers say was prosecuted for political reasons, was illegal.Fatullayev was jailed in April 2007. But his lawyer said the court on Tuesday did not grant him time served, meaning he faces another 2 1/2 years in prison despite the annullment of the longer sentence.Fatullayev, who went on a hunger strike last month to demand his release, protested against the new sentence."You had no right not to take into consideration the European human rights court's verdict about my immediate release," he told the court in the capital, Baku.Opposition politicians and rights groups say all charges against Fatullayev, an editor and writer with the popular opposition newspaper "Real Azerbaijan", were fabricated. The 8 1/2 year sentence followed convictions for terrorism, inciting ethnic hatred and tax evasion.Rights groups say Fatullayev's case and others display the government's intolerance for dissent in the mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic, tightly run by President Ilham Aliyev since he took power on his father's death in 2003.Azeri authorities have said they did not consider the Strasbourg-based human rights court's ruling binding.The court ruling came after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Azerbaijan, a country rich in oil and gas reserves, and stressed the importance of protecting human rights and civil liberties.Authorities in Azerbaijan, a South Caucasus nation courted by the West and by Russia, deny that Fatullayev's prosecution is politically motivated.At least two other journalists are in jail in Azerbaijan, and two opposition bloggers imprisoned last year had their appeals rejected earlier this year.(Reporting by Lada Yevgrashina; writing by Margarita Antidze)
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