Heads of MIA and MfE of Azerbaijan demands prosecution editor-in-chief of "Azadlyg"

The heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) of Azerbaijan Colonel-General Ramil Usubov and Kyamaleddin Geidarov have filed lawsuits against Ganimat Zakhidov, the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper "Azadlyg". They need to bring the journalists to justice in the order of private accusation for libel.

The pretext for Usubov's and Geidarov's lawsuits was the article "Ramil Usubov Is Angry with Kyamaleddin Geidarov" published in the newspaper "Azadlyg" on March 1, as the newspaper writes.

This article reports about the alleged involvement of Geidarov and Usubov in opposition within the authorities.

Geidarov asks to attract Zakhidov to criminal liability under the article of "defamation of a felony" and Usubov – under the article of "slander."

Orkhan Mansurzade, the spokesman of the MIA, has confirmed that fact of the ministers' lawsuits against Zakhidov; however, he refrained from further comments. The MfE of Azerbaijan was closed for comments.

Ganimat Zakhidov has treated the initiation of a criminal case against him as "a revival of the unwanted practice for Azerbaijan." According to his version, the content of the article in question was based on duly informed and reliable sources and observations of the editorial board. Zakhidov asserts that there are no grounds for prosecution in the article.