Advocate of arrested Azerbaijani journalist lodges four petitions

On Monday, October 31, Elchin Sadygov, the lawyer of Avaz Zeinalov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Khural", who had been arrested on October 28 in Azerbaijan, has filed four complaints at once.

Lawyer: there is no evidence, and searches were conducted in violation of law

On October 31, the detainee's lawyer filed a complaint in regard to pre-trial restriction against Avaz Zeinalov preventive measure - 3-month arrest - on charges of blackmailing Gyular Akhmedova, the MP of the Azerbaijani National Assembly from the ruling "Yeni Azerbaijan" Party (YAP). Three other complaints are related to the searches conducted on October 28 in apartment and car, belonging to Zeinalov, and in the edition office of the newspaper "Khural".

In accordance to the law, appeals against pre-trial restriction should be considered within 3 days. Elchin Sadygov claims no reasonable grounds for Zeinalov's arrest, since "there is no evidence that the editor-in-chief took money." "Besides, Avaz Zeinalov is a public figure, and he does not intend to hide from the investigators," said the lawyer.

According to Elchin Sadygov, the searches had been conducted without producing warrants. The lawyer said that the witnesses had come with the investigators, and he "had not yet identified their personalities." During the search, written documents and electronic data carriers - computers, flash cards, CDs - were confiscated out of the car, office and apartment.

Elchin Sadygov treats the search conducted at the journalist's apartment in the absence of his family members as violation of the law. He emphasizes that the officers who conducted the search forced to leave the apartment even the journalist's father-in-law, who had suffered an apoplectic attack several days before the search day.

Spouse: they would not intimidate Zeinalov by arrested

According to Malakhat Zeinalova, the spouse of the editor-in-chief, the first thing, the law enforcement officials asked, was "where you store gold bullions, diamonds and automatic firearms." "Perhaps, they mistook the journalists with corrupted officials. Of course, they had failed to find anything like that," said the woman and emphasized that during the search they confiscated documents and electronic data carriers.

Besides, the spouse of the editor-in-chief said that she expected her husband's arrest, since he has been "a principled journalist and patriot of his native land." She expressed her confidence that the arrest would not intimidate her husband and "they would not force him to give up his way."

"Avaz is a very competent person. He was educated in Turkey. He is a true patriot, and in his publications he exposed corrupted officials, who were hindering the development of Azerbaijan. Avaz is a true advocate of press freedom and democracy," said Malakhat Zeinalova.

She urged local and international democratic community "to raise the voices in defence" of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Khural". "When you defend Avaz Zeinalov, you defend independent media in Azerbaijan," said the arrested man' spouse, who used to work as a journalist in the past.

Colleagues: journalist was arrested by political order

On Monday, October 31, the office of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) held a roundtable dedicated to the Zeinalov's arrest. The roundtable was attended by the members of the Board of editors, representatives of journalist and human rights organizations. The participants of the roundtable agreed unanimously that the arrest of the editor-in-chief is a political order.

According to Elchin Sadygov, the journalist's lawyer, there is no basis to institute a criminal case against the editor-in-chief and to pronounce pre-trial restriction in the form of arrest. "The charge is based solely on the complaint, which was filed on October 19 by the deputy Gyular Akhmedova to the Anti-Corruption Department under the General Prosecutor. The MP attached a CD to her complaint. The CD allegedly contains a recorded conversation with Zeinalov. However, expert report indicates that the voice of the man, who was presented as Zeinalov, cannot be recognized. Besides, audio or video recording made illegally cannot be treated by the investigators as evidence," said the defender.

Besides, Elchin Sadygov reported that Gyular Akhmedova sought through intermediaries a meeting with Zeinalov. "Finally, the editor-in-chief granted the request of the reputable people and met with the MP in August. When the MP entered the editor's office, she began to offer him large amounts of money, office, and other things, asking him to stop criticizing the authorities. Zeinalov immediately refused. Then, Akhmedova asked him to inform her on the expenses of the daily newspaper, saying that she was interested in that information, since she also publishes the newspaper. Now, they want to incriminate Zeinalov the amounts mentioned by him as a bribe," stated the lawyer.

However, according to the lawyer, Zeinalov's accusation of blackmailing is absurd, since he is not an official, and, besides, the fact of receiving the money is absent.

"Khural": editor-in-chief knew that provocation is being prepared

Meanwhile, the editors' office has disseminated the material on the case in the media. It indicates that, yet on September 17, in his interview to the newspaper "Azadlyg" Zeinalov claimed that a provocation was being prepared against him, that the female MP visited him and offered large amounts of money. Zeinalov did not mention her name. However, in 5 days Zeinalov reported in his newspaper that it had been Akhmedova. At the same time, Akhmedova rejected the editor-in-chief's information.

"Even after on October 19 the edition's property had been confiscated, Akhmedova phoned Zeinalov and offered to present him computers; however, the editor-in-chief refused. It turns out that on October 19 Akhmedova filed a complaint to the prosecutor's office stating that Avaz Zeinalov extorted money from her, and two days later she offered her assistance. All this proves dirty provocation against Zeinalov and the newspaper "Khural"," states the newspaper's message, which was published in the Sunday's issue of the newspaper "Azadlyg".

So far, Gyular Akhmedova, the MP of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan from the ruling "Yeni Azerbaijan" Party (YAP), made no public comments. Yesterday, on October 31, she wrote on her page in the social network "Facebook" that she was on a business trip in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and that she would answer all allegations after her return.

Yesterday, the lawyer Sadygov met with Zeinalov in the Baku SIZO (pre-trial prison). According to Sadygov, Zeinalov stated that he had been arrested for critical publications against top-ranking officials.