AI press release on Azerbaijan: beating, imprisonment and other reprisals on a journalist

Amnistía Internacional publicou hoxe unha nota de prensa sobre o caso do xornalista Hakim Eldostu Mehdiyev, que sufriu detención, maltrato e graves represalias sobre a súa familia na república autónoma de Nakhchivan, que pertence a Acerbaixán.

A nota de prensa leva por título “Politically sensitive reporting met with physical reprisals in Azerbaijani exclave”. Copio e pego un extracto:

[...] On 22 September police officers from the National Security Service allegedly beat and detained Həkim Eldostu Mehdiyev in Jalilkand village and then reportedly seized him to an unknown location, where he was again beaten and held for seven hours. He was reportedly told to stop reporting on socio-economic problems in Nakhchivan and told to leave Azerbaijan with his family and not to report this incident to anyone. He then returned home, and reported the incident to the press.

On 23 September Həkim Eldostu Mehdiyev was summoned to the police where he was charged with disobeying police orders. He was tried immediately in Sarur regional court, without access to legal representation, and sentenced to 15 days’ imprisonment in Böyük Düz prison. His family was denied the right to visit him in detention. Following his arrest a teahouse and a shop run by members of Həkim Eldostu Mehdiyev’s family were closed and demolished, reportedly by employees of the Ministry of National Security. Amnesty International has received photographic evidence of the destruction of these two enterprises. [...]