Investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova is in prison in Baku after she published a series of reports about corruption in the Azerbaijan regime.
She’s accused of treason and other crimes and faces up to seven years in prison.
The European Union and human rights groups say the government fabricated the charges against Ismayilova to silence her.
“Her reporting has revealed uncomfortable truths about the ways in which President Ilham Aliyev, his family and cronies are systematically looting their country,” the Organized Crime and Reporting Project said.
At a hearing in her case last week, journalists couldn’t get into the courtroom. When they approached the building, pro-government crowds threw rocks at them.
After the hearing, the court refused to dismiss the charges against Ismayilova. Her next hearing is scheduled for August 7.
Here’s a five-minute video posted on YouTube by the Thomson Reuters Foundation about Ismayilova and her work, and the retribution she’s now facing.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
1 Comment
Let's not forget that Khadija's last big investigative piece before she was thrown into jail was into TeliaSonera's partnership with the wife and daughters of Azerbaijani President Aliyev. What Khadija was not able to report (and was later reported by OCCRP and Swedish journalists) was that TeliaSonera aided and abetted the Aliyevs' grabbing the Azerbaijani state's billion-dollar interest in their local joint venture, Azercell. TeliaSonera's partnership with the daughter of the president of Uzbekistan is currently under investigation by the DOJ. Wonder if the investigation now includes Azerbaijan.
https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/3984-offshores-close-to-president-paid-nothing-for-state-share-of-telecom
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