The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijan to release free press representatives

The International Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to drop charges against the journalists of the Abzas Media publication and release them.

From November 2023 to January 2024, police arrested Abzas Media Director Ulvi Hasanli, Editor-in-Chief Sevinj Vagifgiz, Project Coordinator Muhammad Kekalov, and reporters Hafiz Babali, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova on charges of currency smuggling. These journalists are among 13 employees of four independent media outlets charged with currency smuggling.

Abzas Media Director Ulvi Hasanli received death threats in Baku Pretrial Detention Center No. 1, his wife Rubaba Guliyeva reported. She said that although her husband and lawyer filed complaints with the pretrial detention center management, no action was taken. Gasanly shares a cell with a person who constantly provokes, threatens, and attacks him. Gasanly believes that this person is being kept with him intentionally to provoke him.

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