Azerbaijan on Friday released from prison Faig Amirov who was jailed for alleged ties with Fethullah Gülen, according to a report by AFP. A court of appeals in the capital Baku "changed the remaining two years and a month of Arimov's term in jail to a suspended sentence," his lawyer Fahraddin Mehtiev told AFP.

In July, Amirov - an aide to the leader of the Popular Front party - was found guilty of "having links with Gülen" and sentenced to three years and three months in prison for inciting religious and ethnic hatred. He was arrested last August after investigators said they had found books authored by Gülen in the boot of his car.

Amirov has said the books were planted in his car after investigators pulled him in for questioning. Azerbaijan, a staunch ally of Ankara, launched a crackdown on Gülen's supporters after the July 2016 putsch attempt in Turkey.