[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On January 19, the Baku Court of Appeal rejected the complaint of investigative journalist Hafiz Babala against the refusal to transfer him to house arrest. According to lawyer Rasul Jafarov, at the meeting Babaly repeated that the charges of smuggling and criminal prosecution against him are related to his journalistic investigations.
The editor of the economic news department of the Turan agency, Hafiz Babaly, was detained on December 13. He was charged with “smuggling foreign currency.” By a court decision, he was arrested for three months. Babaly was involved in the case of the online publication “Abzas Media”, who are accused of smuggling 40,000 euros. They allegedly received this money from Western donors in order to scold the Azerbaijani authorities. International organizations condemned these arrests, calling for the release of the journalists.
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