24 July 2008, 11:30
Journalist Agil Halil has left Azerbaijan
Today at night, Agil Halil, correspondent of the Azadlyg" newspaper, left Azerbaijan for France under a private invitation of the organization "Reporters without Borders". It was Halil's fifth attempt to do so.
The Turan Agency reports that the journalist's flight out of his country became possible due to the efforts of the French government (now chairing the European Union) and diplomats, and of the US Embassy in Baku.
After the end of the trial on Strekalin, the authorities gave representatives of the foreign country their consent to the correspondent's departure, and he was accompanied by the French consul to the airport. The witness of the events said that on July 22 at the airport the journalist passed through all the checkpoints, but the frontier service again detained him stating that "he was in search." Then, as the edition informs, they tried to search Halil. After he refused, frontier guards called a police unit of the airport and tried to hand the journalist over to them. However, the officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were accompanying Halil since May, as foreign diplomats had insisted, did not allow the frontier guards to examine the reporter's belongings, and forbade the police unit to approach him. But the major who was in command of the unit and his subordinates tried to force Halil away, but the accompanying officers again interfered. A fight burst out, after which the policemen did not try to keep the journalist any longer.
On the next day, representatives of one more foreign embassy entered the case, and the journalist's issue was again discussed at the highest level with participation of foreign ambassadors. Then Agil was summoned to the deputy head of the frontier service, who apologized and explained that there was a misunderstanding, and now he could leave.
