Baku / 18.05.20 / Turan: Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General Office distributed an official report on the arrest of journalist Afgan Sadigov. It is stated that during the operational-search measures the employees of the General Directorate for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General detained the chief editor of the news portal “Azel TV” Afgan Sadigov and the head of the site “Xəbərfakt.az” Sakit Muradov while receiving extorted from officials 10 thousand manats (about 6 thousand dollars.)
The investigation established that on May 9, Sadigov and Muradov met with officials of the Executive power of the city of Sumgayit and demanded 15 thousand manats (about 9 thousand dollars) under the threat of publishing information compromising them.
In the course of operational investigations carried out by employees of the General Directorate for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General, Sadigov and Muradov were detained on May 13 red-handed while receiving 10,000 manat from these officials in the Khatai district of Baku. The subject of the crime 10,000 manat were seized. Sadigov refused to testify to the investigation. Muradov fully confessed to the committed criminal acts.
A lawsuit has been filed under the Article 182.2.1 (extortion through threats by prior conspiracy of persons) and 182.2.4 (extortion through threats in order to seize property in a significant amount) of the Criminal Code. Regarding Sadigov, a preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen. Muradov was transferred under police surveillance.
The Prosecutor General Office also denied reports published by Sadiqov on social media on the rape in the village of Takhtakerpy in the Agjabadi district, where two sisters were resettled from the Lachin district. Sadigov claimed that the police did not objectively investigate the complaints of the victims.
During the investigation conducted by the prosecutor general’s office, it was found that the sisters did not complain to the law enforcement agencies of the Agjabadi district. It was also established that Sadigov had previously disseminated slanderous information about officials of the Lachin district and that two lawsuits against him are being considered in the Jalilabad district court – under the Article 147.2 (defamation of a serious crime) and 148 (insult) of the Criminal Code.
It should be noted that today the Binagadi District Court chose a preventive measure in respect of Sadigov in the form of an arrest for a period of 4 months. According to relatives of the journalist, he refused to testify and just said, “I was slandered.”
Before his arrest, Sadigov published a Facebook an article “Crime Hidden in Takhtakerpu,” in which he alleges violent sexual acts against two girls in the village of Takhtakerpu, one of whom is a minor. He stated that there was no objective investigation into these facts. Sadigov also published critical materials about officials of the Executive Power of Sumgait.