The arrests of the director and editor in chief of Abzas Media come after a sequence of studies trying into officers’ wealth.
Two journalists have been arrested in Azerbaijan, in accordance with their legal professionals, after their media outlet lately printed a sequence of studies trying into the wealth of high-ranking authorities officers and the household of President Ilham Aliyev.
Sevinj Vagifgyzy, the editor in chief of privately owned Abzas Media, was arrested and her residence was searched on Tuesday, her lawyer and Abzas Media mentioned.
A day earlier, police additionally arrested Ulvi Hasanli, the director of the identical media outlet, on expenses of “smuggling overseas forex”.
Hasanli pleaded not responsible to the fees, for which he might face 12 years in jail, his lawyer Zibeyda Sadygova mentioned.
Abzas Media reported that Hasanli confronted “inhumane remedy” whereas in custody, together with being punched and kicked by officers who requested him about his corruption investigations.
In the meantime, police additionally raided the media outlet’s workplace in Baku and kicked out journalists trying to doc the search from exterior, footage from Abvas Media reveals.
Abzas Media is without doubt one of the few unbiased media retailers left in Azerbaijan following a close to decade-long marketing campaign towards unbiased media and press rights teams, the Committee to Defend Journalists mentioned.
Stifling dissent
Natalia Nozadze, a South Caucasus researcher with rights group Amnesty Worldwide, mentioned Hasanli’s arrest “suits right into a sample of critics being arrested by the authorities to stifle their dissent”.
She mentioned Hasanli “has bravely uncovered allegations of high-level corruption in Azerbaijan and lined important problems with public curiosity” and that he has prior to now “confronted repeated harassment from the federal government”.
Indicators of dissent are sometimes met with a tricky authorities response in Azerbaijan, an energy-rich nation lengthy dominated by the Aliyev dynasty.
In July, Azerbaijan arrested high-profile political economist and civil activist Gubad Ibadoghlu on expenses of varied monetary crimes, which he has denied.
He has mentioned his prosecution was retaliation for exposing high-level corruption in Azerbaijan.
Amnesty Worldwide has mentioned Ibadoghlu has important well being points, and his life is at risk “because of unsafe jail circumstances and denial of enough healthcare”.
The federal government of Aliyev, who has dominated the nation with an iron fist since 2003 after succeeding from his father Heydar, has lengthy confronted worldwide criticism over the nation’s poor democratic report.
