11:22, 15 June 2019

Court arrests Azerbaijani journalist for four months

On June 14, a Baku court ruled to place journalist, Polad Aslanov, accused of high treason, in custody.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Internet websites "xeberman.com" and "press-az.com" was detained on suspicion of espionage. His wife has linked the detention with her husband's professional activities.

"Investigators assert that Polad had meetings abroad with foreign special agents. But he only twice travelled to Iran for pilgrimage to holy places, and once he was in Georgia," said his wife, Gulmira Ragimova.

According to her story, from April 2018 to April 2019 Aslanov served in the army and could not travel abroad; and later, he did not leave Azerbaijan.

Earlier, on June 12, a court in Baku found Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the "Realliq.info" website, guilty of extortion and sentenced him to 5.5 years in prison. Ragimov insists that he is being prosecuted for his critical publications about high-ranking officials.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 15, 2019 at 06:13 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent