Azerbaijan arrests another media manager as crackdown on journalists continues
- 29 November, 05:14
Azerbaijan has arrested director of independent online channel Kanal 13 Aziz Orujov, a week after the crackdown on the opposition AbzasMedia outlet.
A court in Baku remanded Orujov into three months of pre-trial detention on charges of building a house without a permit. Orujov was arrested on November 27 after police searched his apartment and Kanal 13’s office. The journalist’s lawyer Bahruz Bayramov believes that the arrest is politically-motivated and is linked to Orujov’s journalistic work. Bahruzov also described the decision about pre-trial detention as baseless, clarifying that Orujov’s place of residence is known and that he can’t run away and hide. If found guilty, Orujov faces up to three years in prison.
Orujov was previously detained in 2017 on charges of abuse of power and running a company without registration. He was sentenced to six years in prison but released on probation the following year after the Supreme Court cleared him of illegal entrepreneurship. Kanal 13 covers political and social news from Azerbaijan and the broader region. One of the channel’s main focuses of attention is corruption and protection of citizens’ rights, including those of Karabakh war veterans.
Orujov’s detention comes after police raided the office of Abaza Media and arrested the media outlet’s director Ulvi Hasanli, deputy director, Mahammad Kekalov, and editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgizi. All three have been charged with smuggling money and face up to eight years in jail.
