Azerbaijani rights defenders ready to take arrested journalist Ismayilova on bail

A group of rights defenders in Azerbaijan have expressed their readiness to take Khadija Ismayilova, the arrested employee of the local service of Radio Liberty on bail.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5 Khadija Ismayilova was questioned at the Baku City Prosecutor's Office, after which the court ruled to put her into custody as accused of incitement to a suicide attempt of her former colleague Tural Mustafaev. Her defence treats the accusation as absurd and her arrest as illegal.

On December 8, members of the Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (MGHROA) were received by Rustam Usubov, First Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, and discussed the issue of inclusion of the country's political prisoners into the alleged New Year's Eve Presidential Pardoning Decree; they also raised the issue of release from custody of rights defendants, including Khadija Ismayilova.

This was reported by Saida Godjamanly, who, together with other members of MGHROA – Novella Djafaroglu and Mirvari Gakhramanly – met with Rustam Usubov on December 8.

As stated by Novella Djafaroglu, the arrest of the journalist was unjustified. "The arrest of Khadija Ismayilova was a wrong decision; and it should be changed. The person, who complained against her, didn't die. He argues that Khadija incited his suicide attempt. However, the truthfulness of his claims should be further investigated. We have thoroughly discussed this issue with Rustam Usubov. We asked to release Khadija Ismayilova under our guarantee. For our part, we guarantee to ensure her participation in the inquiry," said Djafaroglu.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.