Azerbaijani GPO seals up Baku office of Radio Liberty (+video)

Today, employees of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan have sealed up the Baku office of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty after it was searched. The top managers of the Corporation "Radio Liberty/Free Europe" have treated the search as an attack on the freedom of speech.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the lawyer Yalchin Imanov, who is defending the rights of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty, that during the search they confiscated all the accounting books, documents of the editorial board, labour contracts, seals, stamps, all electronic data carriers, including computers, flash memory sticks and CDs.

Besides, employees of the GPO confiscated the main server of the radio station, said the lawyer.

After the search, the office was sealed up and placed under police supervision.

Today, the website of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty has posted a statement of Nenad Pejic, the CEO of the Corporation "Radio Liberty/Free Europe", who condemned the search, treating it as "an act of revenge of Azerbaijani authorities."

"The Azerbaijani regime has repeatedly tried to silence us. However, the Radio Liberty, created to ensure the right of the Azerbaijani people to receive information, has never stopped its work, and it will continue working to ensure that the Azerbaijani people have access to free information," the statement of the Corporation quotes Nenad Pejic as saying.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.