Court orders well-known reporter held for four more months.
Reporters Without Borders is outraged to learn that a Baku court extended journalist
Rauf Mirkadyrov
’s pre-trial detention for another four months on 15 July at the prosecutor-general’s request.
A well-known correspondent for the independent Russian-language newspaper
Zerkalo
, Mirkadyrov
has been held since 18 April
on a charge of high treason. In reality, he is one of the latest victims of the government’s campaign to stamp out all criticism
“By keeping Mirkadyrov in detention, the politicized judicial system is showing that it is bent on persecuting him,”
said Johann Bihr, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.
“His only crime is an independent attitude. We again call on the authorities to drop the charges and free him at once.” […]
One of
Zerkalo
’s leading writers for many years, he is known for being critical not only of the Azerbaijani government but also the Turkish and Russian ones.
Zerkalo
was
forced to suspend publishing
in May after being economically throttled.
Azerbaijan is ranked 160th out of 180 countries in the
2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index
.
Source: full statement available
here
.
