The journalist intends to sue the General Directorate for Combating of organization (GDCOC)

The head of the NGO "Legal Education of Sumgayit Youth" and editor of "Yukselish namine" Elchin Mammadov intends to sue the General Directorate for Combating of organization (GDCOC) of the  Ministry of Internal Affairs because of the ban on leaving the country.

On May 29 this year, on his return from Europe, he was detained at the airport in Baku, where the activists was told about the ban on his leaving the country. Then he was taken to  the GDCOC where he was interrogated for about 12 hours. After that, the activist appealed to international organizations about the prosecution of human rights and journalistic activities.

The organization "Front Line Defenders" asked for clarification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan on the legality of the ban on leaving the country. From the Foreign Ministry  the letter went to the Interior Ministry, and on  4 August the  activist  was summoned to GDCOC.

However, the spokesman of the Interior Ministry Ehsan Zahidov told the press that the summon of call Mammadov to the DGCOC was not related to his journalistic and human rights activities.

The reason for the summon  was allegedly not returning  the loan to the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA.) After warning  the need for the return of  loan, the activist was released, said the spokesman.

Mammadov himself  told Turan said the spokesman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told a lie and tries to mislead the public.

The Bank has no claims, and the credit is paid correctly, he said, noting that has never received an official response to his inquiry on the causes of the prohibition. After receiving the response, the activist is going to appeal to court against GDCOC.-06D-