Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders Call on Azerbaijan to Release Journalists
On the eve of the trial of the Abzas Media journalists arrested in Azerbaijan, international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders called on the country's authorities to release them. The human rights activists also appealed to foreign diplomats and the international community with a request to take part in the trial.
A new wave of arrests of independent journalists and activists began in Azerbaijan at the end of last year. Representatives of the Abzas Media online publication, in particular its director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi, journalists Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova, as well as activist Mohammed Kekalov, who collaborated with the publication, were placed in pretrial detention. In addition to them, researcher-journalist, employee of the Turan agency Hafiz Babali and employee of Radio Azadlyg, economist Farid Mehralizade were arrested.
Initially, they were accused of smuggling foreign currency. Then the charges were toughened: illegal entrepreneurship on a large scale, legalization of criminal proceeds by an organized group, falsification of documents, group tax evasion. The journalists deny guilt and stated that they are being persecuted for investigating facts of corruption in the highest echelons of power in Azerbaijan.
