Journalist Ismayilova sends appeal in support of Radio Liberty from Baku SIZO

Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and an employee of the Baku office of Radio Liberty, who is kept in the Baku SIZO (pre-trial prison), has sent an open letter with words of support to her colleagues.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 26, law enforcers conducted a search of the Baku office of Radio Liberty, and then sealed up the premises. The Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty has stated that they worked completely transparent; they timely paid all the taxes and other social payments.

"Today, the leadership of Azerbaijan makes its choice against modernization, against the freedom of speech and against democracy. This is a wrong choice not only for us but also for the regime itself,” Ismayilova writes in her letter to her colleagues.

She treats as absurd the accusations of Radio Liberty of financial and tax crimes, as well as the attempts to tarnish the investigative journalist Shakhvelyad Chobanoglu.

Earlier, Johan Beer, an official for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of another international organization in defence of the media, "Reporters Without Borders", said that the international community must take concrete steps to end the suppression of the freedom of speech in Azerbaijan.

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