Employee of IRFS Abulfat Namazov banned from leaving Azerbaijan

An employee of the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS), Abulfat Namazov on August 31 was detained at the Baku airport when departing to the United States to participate in a journalism program. In passing through border control, he was declared a ban on leaving the country, and he had to return, IRFS told Turan.

Last week Namazov was questioned as a witness in the so-called Attorney General's case against local and foreign NGOs. However, the journalist was not warned about the ban on leaving the country. In general, according to IRFS, by law a witness cannot be prohibited from leaving the country. A witness may be asked to pre-notify the investigating authority on his foreign trips.

The piquancy of the situation is that Namazov is a citizen of Georgia and the investigating authority cannot restrict the right of a foreign citizen, if he bears the status of a witness.

In July, the IRFS accounts were frozen. On August 8, a search was conducted in the office of the organization and on August 11 the office was sealed. Since then, employees of IRFS have been summoned to the prosecutor's office for questioning.

From August 8 the fate of the head of IRFS, Emin Huseynov, has remained unknown. -0