Azerbaijan released former defence minister Ragim Gaziev

Ragim Gaziev, the ex-Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan, detained in the evening on March 19, was released tonight without charging. He did not rule out that his detention had to do with his open letter criticizing the head of the state.

According to the ex-minister, the men who detained him warned about possible negative consequences of his appearances in the media. "They threatened me: 'You're writing a lot of letters back and forth; you'd better behave quietly.'," said Gaziev.

After that, Gaziev was put into one of the cells of the GUBOP (Chief Department for Fighting Organized Crime) of the MIA, and released about 2 a.m. No charges were presented to Gaziev.

So far, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of the MIA regarding Gaziev's detention.