"Reporters without Borders" call Azerbaijani authorities to stop persecuting journalists in Nakhichevan

The international organization "Reporters without Borders" (RwB) engaged in defending journalists' rights has sent letters to the authorities of Azerbaijan in the context of persecutions of independent journalists in Nakhichevan.

The RwB's message, now at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, runs that the letters mention names of four journalists - Malakhat Nasibova, Khyakimeldostu Mekhtiev, Mekhman Mekhtiev and Elman Abbasov, - who are exposed to pressure in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR).

On January 30, Khyakimeldostu Mekhtiev was subjected to physical violence. Before that, he, Ms Nasibova and Mr Abbasov received threats by telephone. The name and requisites of the caller are known, but the police was informed about the threats, as the RwB's statement further runs.

"It is the extremely important that the persecution be stopped and the guilty persons punished. Any further silence of the police would be strange. Independent journalists should freely work in Nakhichevan; otherwise all the political and civil freedoms will be under question. Journalists should have guarantees that the police will operate quickly should anyone be under threat of physical violence," run the RwB's letters addressed to the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev, Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Chairman the Supreme Majlis (Parliament) of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic Vasif Talybov.