We are deeply troubled by the August 24 arrest and three month pretrial detention of Mehman Aliyev, the prominent editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan"s only remaining independent media outlet, Turan Information Agency. Other restrictive actions against Turan, including freezing its bank accounts and initiating tax evasion charges against it, are also troubling. These actions by the government of Azerbaijan to curtail freedom of press and to further restrict freedom of expression are the latest in a negative trend that includes the government"s May decision to block access to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other independent media websites.
We urge the government of Azerbaijan to immediately release Mehman Aliyev, and all those incarcerated for exercising their fundamental freedoms, in accordance with its international obligations and OSCE commitments.-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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