IRFS demands unconditional release of Khadija Ismailova in connection with the Panamanian documents

 the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety called on the international community to demand from the Azerbaijani authorities immediately and unconditionally release of the journalist Khadija Ismailova; and if they refused, to apply severe international sanctions against the Azerbaijanis, whose names appear in the documents of Panama.  The IRFS also calls on the international community to exert pressure on the authorities of Azerbaijan and urge them to fulfill international obligations in the field of fundamental human rights, as well as in the area of ​​transparency and accountability.

While the United Kingdom, France, Australia and Mexico have pledged to investigate possible tax evasion in the light of the Panama documents, no action was taken by the Azerbaijani authorities, and  there was not any response from the country's parliament,  reads  the statement.

The IRFS believes that while the government does not implement serious reforms, the international financial institutions must categorically refuse to support any institutional, financial and economic initiative of the Azerbaijani government. "Without reforms, the allocated funds will be used exclusively for the benefit of senior and corrupt officials.  It will bring nothing to Azerbaijan but burdensome debt,"  noted this non-governmental  NGO.

The IRFS also calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to release Khadija Ismailova and all other prisoners of criticizing the government,  and to institute legal reforms  so that independent media and other institutions of civil society  participate in the process of enhancing transparency and combating corruption.

The statement noted that the new evidence of corruption in Azerbaijan's ruling family, which shed light  on Panamanian documents are yet another reminder of the real reason of imprisonment Khadija Ismailova.

 The IRFS emphasizes that the revelations contained in the documents of Panama, will add additional impetus to calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Azerbaijani free press hero, a journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

 The Panamanian documents   contain a special chapter  on the  members of the Azerbaijani President’s family, describing their connection with a complex system of offshore companies. These documents show how in 2003, the Minister of Taxes Fazil Mammadov created a conglomerate of AtaHolding, and Aliyev family joined it. Thus, President Aliyev's family has built an entire "offshore empire."

Panamanian documents  is the informal name of the leak of confidential documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The main theme of the published results was publicizing the presence of a hidden property of politicians and related conflicts of interest.

Estimated archive size of 2.6 terabytes contains 11.5 million files that mention a lot of current and former world leaders, high-ranking officials, and prominent people. The materials mentioned the name of 12 current and former heads of states.-0-