Mehman Huseynov Not Released from Azerbaijan to International Events

Baku / 09.04.19 / Turan: The blogger Mehman Huseynov, chairman of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), was not released from Azerbaijan to Europe to participate in a number of international events this morning.

When departing for Berlin on an AZAL aircraft, at border control, M. Huseynov was told that a ban was imposed on his departure by the General Prosecutor"s Office of Azerbaijan. The reasons were not clarified, his brother, the Director of IRFS, Emin Huseynov told Turan.

According to him, there is no legal basis for the blogger to leave the country, since he fully served a 2-year prison sentence and received a passport after being released.

M. Huseynov was supposed to leave Berlin for Strasbourg today to attend the conference on NGOs of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

On Wednesday, M. Huseynov planned to attend the annual conference of IFEX - the International Network of Journalist Organizations, of which IRFS is a member. On Thursday, the blogger again had to return to Strasbourg to participate in the "parallel discussions" at the spring session of the PACE on anti-corruption issues and the study of Azerbaijan Laundromat, one of the organizers of which is IRFS.

And on Friday, a blogger was scheduled to attend a conference on the safety of journalists in Vienna, organized by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Desire. - 06B--