Azerbaijani police have pressed new charges against two of AbzasMedia’s staff members and an economist detained during the crackdown on independent media.
The chief investigator of the Baku City Police Department on Friday charged those detained in Abzas Media case, including economist Farid Mehralizade with illegal entrepreneurship, smuggling assets as part of an organised group, tax evasion, and falsifying documentsIf found guilty under the new articles, they could face up to 12 years in prison, and up to 20 with their previous charge of smuggling foreign currency as part of an organised group.
If found guilty under the new articles, they could face up to 12 years in prison, and up to 20 with their previous charge of smuggling foreign currency as part of an organised group.
Farid Mehralizade’s wife, Nargiz Mukhtarova, dismissed the charges as ‘simply absurd accusations based on an absence of any evidence against him’.
‘For many years Farid worked at a bank under an official employment contract. A car which he bought in his name through an official transfer at a price that a person with an official salary can easily buy and use for personal purposes, is being presented as an asset purchased through laundered money’, she said.
Mehralizade was detained as part of the case against AbzasMedia in May, despite not having any ties to the independent news outlet.