In Azerbaijan, property belonging to newspaper "Khural" confiscated

In the evening of October 19, bailiffs of Narimanov District of Baku confiscated the property of the independent newspaper "Khural" (Congress).

In 2010, the newspaper lost the cases under lawsuits of Ramiz Mekhtiev, the head of the presidential administration, and Vugar Safarli, the head of the Media Support Foundation under the President, on offence of honour and dignity, and that became the reason for confiscation. The courts obliged the editors to pay the plaintiffs 10,000 manats (12,000 US dollars, - note of the "Caucasian Knot") and 5000 manats (6000 US dollars, - note of the "Caucasian Knot").

In May, the bailiffs conducted the property inventory of the editors' office. Then, Avaz Zeinally, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Khural", appealed to the Narimanov District Court asking to suspend the execution of decisions, since the editors had no money to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.

In the morning of October 19, the bailiffs appeared at the editors' office again and began to conduct the property inventory. They explained this by saying that a month ago the newspaper became a daily issue instead of a weekly one, and "therefore, it gained additional funds", the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports from Baku.

The bailiffs have completed the property inventory of the website "liberal.az" located in one building with the newspaper "Khural", believing that its equipment was also related to the newspaper. Afgani Mukhtarly, the website editor-in-chief, named the situation "arbitrariness" and said that he would appeal to the court.

Zeinally believes that the incident was a political order. However, the bailiffs claimed no political motive in their actions. "Do not look for a political background. We carry out our official duties," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by one of the bailiffs who refused to introduce himself.