23 June 2023

One journalist has been detained, and three others forcibly removed from the village of Soyudlu in west Azerbaijan after covering the protests there. Two social activists were also detained after they made critical social media posts about the police response to the protests. 

Journalist Elmaddin Shamilzadeh was detained by police on Friday in Baku, while speaking to OC Media. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he published footage of local residents being violently dispersed by police in Soyudlu, after which he was summoned to a military conscription unit in Lankaran District.

Prior to his detention, Shamilzadeh told OC Media that he was told on 22 June to submit documents supporting his military deferral, which he is entitled to as he is studying for a PhD. 

‘I submitted the documents to the commissariat in June 2021, and it is absurd that they are asking me for them now’, he said. 

At the time, he added that he believed he could be forced into military service despite his formal exemption.

‘This is a method of punishment, because as a journalist, I shot videos in Soyudlu’, he said...

Activists who made posts online about the protests were also targetted by the authorities.

Giyas Ibrahim and Elmir Abbasov were on Thursday sentenced to 30 and 20 days in prison respectively, after publishing social media posts criticising the authorities’ handling of the protests in Soyudlu. 

Ibrahim received his 30-day sentence for posting information ‘prohibited for distribution in online information resources’ and intentionally disobeying police orders...

His Thursday post criticised President Aliyev, and expressed support for the protesters in Soyudlu.