Farid Mehralizade, president of “Azadlig” radio, made a call

Steven Kapus wants the economist to be released immediately

Stephen Capus, president of “Azadlig” radio, called for the release of journalist and economist Farid Mehralizade.

“Today (October 30) five months have passed since the unjust imprisonment of Farid Mehralizade, journalist and economist of “Azadlig” radio. We are deeply concerned that he remains in prison on false charges. We call for his immediate release so he can return home to his wife and newborn daughter.” – Stephen Kapus said.

Farid Mehralizade was arrested on June 1.

He was initially charged with Article 206.3.2 (group smuggling) of the Criminal Code. Later, the charges were aggravated.

Additional charges relate to illegal entrepreneurship with large profits, as well as organized gang smuggling, tax evasion, document forgery and use of forged documents.

On September 6, Farid Mehralizade’s pretrial detention was extended until December 19.

He does not accept the accusations, considers them to be false.

The Azerbaijani authorities say that no one in the country has been arrested for political reasons, just for professional activities.

However, since November of last year, around 20 journalists and social activists have been arrested in groups in the country on charges of smuggling. Most of them were initially related to the “AbzasMedia case”.

In that case, the site’s director Ulvi Hasanli, employee Mahammad Kekalov, and editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifqizi were arrested. Later, the arrests related to this case continued with journalists Hafiz Babaly, Nargiz Absalamova and others.

Detainees do not agree with the accusation, explaining it by professional activities and political order.
Local human rights organizations report that there are at least 300 political prisoners in Azerbaijani prisons.