WASHINGTON- The US government welcomed the release on Wednesday of Radio Free Europe journalist Khadija Ismayilova from a prison in Azerbaijan, the State Department said.
In September, an Azeri court sentenced Ismayilova, a prominent journalist known for exposing corruption among the ruling elite, to 7-1/2 years in jail.
Ismayilova was released on Wednesday after the country's Supreme Court amended her imprisonment to 3-1/2 years of suspended sentence."We view this as a positive step, and we encourage the Azerbaijani government to drop the remaining charges against her," the State Department said in a statement.