GPO refuses to lift ban on journalist's leaving Azerbaijan

The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan gave a formal reply to the request of the journalist, Shakhveled Chobanoglu, to lift the ban on his leaving the country, which is in force for the fifth year already, his advocate has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2015, the journalist Shakhveled Chobanoglu, who collaborated with the Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty, was banned from leaving the country. The ban had to do with the then launched inquiry into the activities of the Baku bureau of Radio Liberty.

After this May, the ban on overseas travels was lifted from several journalists of the "Meydan TV", the Chobanoglu's advocate asked the GPO to do this for her client. "They answered that our appeal 'would be added to the criminal case,' and 'we'd be additionally informed'," Zibeida Sadygova, an advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

As she explained, the ban is devoid of all legal grounds: "Shakhveled Chobanoglu is not the accused party, and as a witness he hasn't been summoned by investigators for several years."

Shakhveled Chobanoglu himself told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the restriction of the freedom of travel creates problems for him, since he cannot continue his medical treatment started in 2014 abroad.

The journalist treats the ban to travel abroad as pressure related to his professional activities.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 8, 2019 at 12:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.