The head of the Meclis.info website, Imran Aliyev, was detained at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku. He intended to fly to Turkey for safety reasons.

Shortly before this, the pro-government website Kafkasinfo published an article “New facts in the case of Abzas Media and Toplum TV,” which also mentioned Imran Aliyev. The article accused the detained press representatives of receiving grants from Western banks. It also stated that violation of the legislation on grants was “not their only fault”: their media “had an anti-national character and were calculated to strike a blow at the independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan.”

Since the end of last year, there have been repressions against independent journalists and activists from Abzas Media in Azerbaijan. They were accused of smuggling foreign currency. They deny the charges and believe they are being persecuted for investigating corruption.

Two journalists from the independent Internet television channel Channel 13 and four employees of Toplum TV were also arrested. All were accused of currency smuggling.

International human rights and media organizations condemned the Azerbaijani authorities and demanded the release of media workers.