RWB CONDEMNS AZERI ATHOURITIES FOR REFUSE TO INVESTIGATE ATTACK ON JOURNALISTS
The two journalists were photographing luxury homes in the Baku neighbourhood of Shuvlan on 28 July when they were attacked and beaten by security guards. The guards held them for more than three hours, interrogated them, threatened to put them under permanent surveillance and warned them not to report the incident to the authorities.
Yeni Musavat`s management filed a complaint with the interior ministry but, until now, the police insist that the journalist were not subjected to any violence and that, on the contrary, they invaded businessman Emin Aleskerov`s privacy by taking photographs.
The police have not, however, produced any evidence that the two journalists took photos inside Aleskerov`s home and the gate to his property was much too high for them to have been able to climb it. The villa`s security staff does not deny using force against the journalists and it has been established that Badalov and Gerayly were taken into the guard room and the contents of their camera`s memory card was erased.
The police acknowledge that the two journalists sustained a lot bruising but claim that a forensic medical examination indicated that they could have had `a serious fall, from a gate, for example`.
The authorities gave assurances last year that constitutional amendments concerning a ban on taking photos without the consent of the persons concerned would not be used against journalists.
Reporters Without Borders regrets that it now seems that this law is being using to restrict the work of the media.-0-
Politics
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will hold talks in Moscow on January 17 and make statements for the press, according to the Kremlin's press service.
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On January 13, the trial in the case of public activist Nijat Ibrahim continued in the Baku Serious Crimes Court under the chairmanship of Judge Aygun Gurbanova. The trial was suspended after Ibrahim, in protest against the illegal arrest, began banging his head against the "aquarium cage", trying to commit suicide. At the beginning of the trial, he stated that he had been illegally detained for 4 months, and because of this, his family in Moldova was in a difficult situation, Turan announced this on its Twitter.
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The International Committee of Concerned Scholars (ICS) has appealed to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, requesting his assistance in securing the release of the arrested researcher, Igbal Abilov. The ICS expressed concern that Abilov's arrest "may be related to his research on ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan, conducted in collaboration with scholars from Armenia."
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Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maka Botchorishvili, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Georgia, Faig Guliyev.
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