Azerbaijan: arrest of journalist Ismayilova extended

On May 14, the Nasimi District Court of Baku extended for other three months, until August 24, the arrest of the investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5, 2014, Khadija Ismayilova, a staff member of the Azerbaijani office of "Radio Liberty", was summoned to the Baku City Prosecutor's Office, where she was detained. The journalist was charged with inciting her former colleague Tural Mustafaev to a suicide attempt.

"The trial was formal. The investigation reiterated its previous arguments about the need to keep Ismayilova in custody, because she, allegedly, can influence the witnesses or hide from investigators. We proposed to restrict with the house arrest, enough to exclude any influence on the witnesses," said Fariz Namazly, her defender.

According to his version, if Khadija Ismayilova had wanted to escape from the investigation, she would not have returned from her trip abroad last September. "Already then, a lawsuit was filed against her as a private criminal charge by the former oppositionist Elman Gasanov, under which she had a threat of arrest," said Namazly.

Let us remind you that on February 23 the court awarded Khadija Ismayilova with a fine for slandering the above Elman Gasanov. Her advocates challenged the fine; and on April 28, the Court of Appeal (CoA) dismissed the defence's motion demanding a repeated judicial investigation. A cassation complaint was lodged against this dismissal.

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