The Court of Appeal has left the Abzas Media” journalist under arrest

On Monday, the Baku Court of Appeal rejected a complaint against the extension of the arrest of journalist Nargiz Absalamova. The court upheld the decision of the Khatai court to extend the journalist's arrest for another 22 days – until June 20. The investigative body in court again motivated the extension of the arrest by the need for investigative actions, a lawyer Rovshan Rahimov told Turan. The investigation believes that by remaining at large, Absalamova can influence the course of the investigation.

The defense called these allegations unfounded. The lawyer drew attention to the fact that from the very beginning of the investigation, when Absalamova was in the status of a witness, she did not shy away from the investigation.  On the day of her arrest, she herself came to the police for questioning. In addition, no investigative actions are being carried out against the journalist. However, the Court of Appeal did not heed the arguments of the defense, leaving the complaint without satisfaction.

* Since November 20, 2023, six journalists and media workers of the “Abzas Media” publication have been arrested on charges of "currency smuggling". They rejected the charges, linking the criminal case to corruption investigations that were published in “Abzas Media.”

International media protection organizations have called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release the detained journalists and stop pressure on the media.