Sources: contact.az, Kavkaz Uzel
Radio Liberty vowed that it would take all steps necessary to protect the rights and interests of its employees in Azerbaijan, Radio Liberty editor-in-chief Nenad Pejic said and
Kavkaz Uzel
and
contact.az
reported.
On May 6, 2015, the Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty handed over its office at Caspian Plaza after almost 10 years of renting there due to termination of the lease term. Its office was raided and searched by investigators from Azerbaijan’s state prosecutor office, accompanied by armed police officers, on December 26, 2014. Staff members were summoned for questioning, and their computers and documents were confiscated.
“The Azerbaijani government acted unlawfully and unreasonably,” Pejic said. He added that the radio station staff and their families were pressured and, in some cases, banned from leaving the country. He also condemned detention and interrogation of journalists without the presence of their attorneys.
After the Radio Liberty office was sealed off in Azerbaijan, the service has continued to broadcast from Prague via satellite and digital channels.
