“Abzas Media” denies  involvement  of F.Mehralizale to this edition

Economist Farid Mehralizadeh, who was arrested on charges of smuggling, is not related to the work of “Abzas Media,” the interim management of this publication said. Farid Mehralizadeh was detained on June 1 as part of a criminal case against employees of “Abzas Media.”

After the arrest of six journalists from “Abzas Media,” dozens more people who had nothing to do with this publication were summoned for questioning.

Anar Mammadli, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC)  and  Imran Aliyev, the head of the platform monitoring the activities of the parliament, were arrested in the case, the “Abzas Media” said.

Mehralizadeh had nothing to do with “Abzas Media” and was just one of many experts who commented on this publication.  As an economist, he also spoke in pro-government media, the document notes.

"We call on the government of Azerbaijan to put an end to the involvement of civil society activists in the “Abzas Media” case based on fabricated facts. We demand the immediate release of all arrested employees of “Abzas Media” - Ulvi Hasanli, Mohammad Kekalov, Sevinj Vagifgizi (Abbasov), Hafiz Babaly, Nargiz Absalamova,  and Elnar Gasimov," the statement said.