Participants in the event in Berlin will call on Merkel to raise in Baku the issue of freedom of speech

Баку/14.08.18/Turan: Before Chancellor Merkel's trip to Azerbaijan, Reporters Without Borders and the Institute for Reporters" Freedom and Safety would like to inform you about the rigorous persecution of journalists and activists under President Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan is one of the countries with most imprisoned media professionals in the world, eleven journalists and two bloggers are currently in prison for their work. Many of them are denied adequate medical treatment. Several oppositional media outlets have been closed in recent years. Even in exile, regime critics are persecuted, as exemplified by the abduction of Afghan Mukhtarli from Georgia or the threats against exiled journalists in Germany and France.

The participants of the event are going to draw Angela Merkel's attention to these problems and put these questions before official Baku during the visit.-02D-