Azerbaijan charges journalist with spying for Armenia
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 21 April 2014 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Azerbaijan charges journalist with spying for Armenia, 21 April 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/53a1376b8.html [accessed 28 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
April 21, 2014
Azerbaijani authorities have formally charged a prominent journalist with high treason over allegations he spied for Azerbaijan's rival, Armenia.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement April 21 that Rauf Mirqadirov "was recruited by the Armenian secret services in 2008 and supplied Yerevan with information on Azerbaijan's state secrets."
Mirqadirov has been ordered to stay in pretrial custody for the next three months as investigators pursue the case.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said Mirqadirov is accused of meeting with Armenian agents several times in Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey and providing them with images and documents that damaged Azerbaijan's security and defense capabilities.
Mirqadirov is a correspondent for the Russian-language newspaper "Zerkalo," which is published in Azerbaijan.
He was detained in Baku after he was deported from Turkey on April 19.
Azerbaijan and Armenia remain locked in hostilities over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani territory that was seized by Armenian-backed separatists during a war in the early 1990s.
Rights groups consider Azerbaijan's government to be among the most repressive of journalists in the world.
Based on reporting by AFP, ITAR-TASS, and Interfax
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
