Three Azerbaijani journalists temporarily detained by the police

On October 9, the office of the Azerbaijani Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) hosted a press conference on the fact of detention on October 8 of Shakhin Agabeili, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Milli Yol" (National Way) and Information Agency "Poligon" (pia.az), and his deputy Radil Mamedov, and confiscation of photo and video cameras from the employees of the IRFS.

As reported by Idrak Abbasov, an employee of the IRFS, on October 8 at about 4:00 p.m. Mr Agabeili called to the "hotline" of the Institute and told about Mamedov's arrest. It turned out that five young men of sportive bodybuild, who presented themselves as employees of the Ministry of National Security (MNS), but showing no IDs, said that Mr Mamedov was in search, violently pushed him into a car and took away in an unknown direction.

In answer to requests of the IRFS, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) said that they have no information about the incident; and Arif Babaev, head of the PR Centre of the MNS, said that the Ministry did not undertake "this sort of operation."

Then, Agabeili told the IRFS that Mamedov called his friend and said that he was kept at the MIA. Mamedov also said that he was interrogated in connection with the article "Staff Reduction in MIA", published in the website pia.az on October 5.

Further, Agabeili informed the IRFS that the office of the newspaper "Milli Yol" and IA "Poligon", located in the crossing of Rasul Rza and Bashir Safaroglu Streets in central Baku was cordoned by people in civilian clothes.

In this context, the filming team of the IRFS went to the place.

When Idrak Abbasov and another employee of the IRFS Ganbar Ganbarov were filming a conversation of Agabeili with one of the persons in civilian, they were attacked. According to Abbasov, the attackers detained Agabeili, and violently took away the video equipment from the IRFS cameraman.

Moreover, the agents in civilian took away a video camera at another employee of the IRFS Elnur Mamedov, who was videoing the incident from outside the building; they put him into the car together with Agabeili and took them away.

"On the way, Mamedov was beaten by policemen," Mr Abbasov, an employee of the IRFS, has emphasized.

At about 10:00 p.m. on that very day, Agabeili, Mamedov and employee of the IRFS Eldaniz Elgyun were released. They brought to the IRFS the equipment that was taken away from the employees of the Institute and said that they had been brought to the Chief Department of the MIA for Fighting Organized Crime, where the Department bosses asked about the sources of the article about staff reductions in the MIA.

"These claims are absolutely groundless. The article gave assumptions based on guidelines of the OSCE and other international entities about the need to reduce MIA staff," said Agabeili.

In his turn, director of the IRFS Emin Guseinov said that the Institute would bring an action against the MIA for their interference into professional work of journalists and excess of powers by policemen.