Vidadi Mammadov, reporter for Azadliq newspaper, was interrogated at the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office on September 7. Having signed an undertaking of secrecy, the journalist did not speak about the interrogation in details, but said that he had been questioned in relation to Azadliq newspaper’s case.
On September 7, Azadliq newspaper editor Sujaddin Sharifov also gave witness testimony at the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. According to Sharifov, he was interrogated for about two hours in the criminal case launched against Azadliq newspaper’s arrested financial director Faig Amirli.
On September 6, Azadliq’s another employee Khayal Babayev was interrogated at the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. He also did not disclose the reason why he had been invited to the investigative agency due to having signed a confidentiality undertaking.
Background: Azadliq newspaper’s financial director Faig Amirli was arrested on 20 August 2016. Employees of the investigating authority searched his car and house, and allegedly found and seized Fetullah Gulen books from his car. According to his lawyer, wedding video cassettes were also seized during the search. Amirli is charged under Articles 283.1 (Actions aimed at the incitement of national, racial, social or religious hatred and enmity, humiliation of national dignity, as well as actions aimed at restricting the rights of citizens or establishment of the superiority of citizens on grounds of their nationality, race, social status or religion, if these acts are committed publicly or through the media) and 168.1 (Creating, managing or being part of a group, which – under the pretext of disseminating religious faiths and performing religious rites – carries out an activity that disrupts public order or harms the health of citizens or violates the rights of citizens irrespective of its form of infringement, as well as distracts citizens from performance of their duties established by law) of the Criminal Code. Nasimi District Court has ordered 3-month pre-trial detention of Faig Amirli.