Azerbaijani police have raided the offices of the online television station Toplum TV.
Journalist Gulzar Mammadli reported on Wednesday afternoon that police had surrounded the building and that two of the site’s journalists, Elmir Abbasov and Araz Aliyev had been detained. RFE/RL reported that other journalists had been taken away by police and were currently not reachable.
The Interior Ministry told BBC Azerbaijan that ‘operational search measures’ were being carried out based on ‘information received about the activities of a group of people’.
The raid comes amidst a widespread crackdown on the few remaining media outlets still operating in Azerbaijan that do not take a pro-government line.
Toplum TV is an independent news site founded in 2016 by media lawyer Alasgar Mammadli. The site’s editor in chief is well known Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismail.
More to follow.
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