Late yesterday evening, while on duty, the journalist of the YouTube channel 13Kanal Avaz Hafizli was beaten by a security guard at the “Deyirman” restaurant.
Opening ceremony of the restaurant in the 8th microdistrict, located in the Binagadi district of Baku, was attended by high-ranking officials The doors of the restaurant were closed, they opened after a phone call to the security, A. Hafizli told Turan.
He arrived there according to the information of a reader who said that the restaurant belongs to the head of the executive power of the Yasamal region of Baku, Eldar Hasanov. A. Hafizli, being outside the restaurant complex, at the iron bars, asked the guards whether it was true that the owner of the establishment was the head of the Yasamal District Executive Power, and why ordinary visitors were not allowed inside. The dialogue was conducted simultaneously with live video reporting.
The video shows that after a short dialogue, the guard used physical force against the journalist, and the recording interrupted.
As A. Hafizli told Turan, physical violence was used after the command from the restaurant. The guards dragged the journalist into the fenced yard, next to the restaurant casino. They took away one phone, the journalist hid the second phone in advance. They warned that the phone would not be returned, they could give him an expensive iPhone instead. Then the journalist was offered a bribe, A. Hafizli did not agree to the conspiracy and demanded to release him, returning his phone. Then persuasion was replaced by threats to use a bottle and other means of violence used in the relevant circles.
The journalist called for help from passers-by along the street. He phoned the police at number 102. A police squad arrived and took Hafizli and one of the restaurant workers to the fifth department of the Binagadi district police department. There, both sides gave written evidence, and seizing the opportunity, the restaurant’s representative again threatened and begged the journalist to peacefully end the conflict.
Leaving the police in the morning, Hafizli arrived at the Institute of Traumatology, where, after an X-ray examination, a broken arm was found. The doctors applied a plaster cast.
The journalist said that at home he wrote and sent a statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to investigate the violence and punish those responsible.
It was not possible to get comments from the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the “Deyirman” restaurant. The video of the reportage and violence against the journalist is here