10:04, 4 May 2006

In Azerbaijan, police beat journalist of "Zerkalo" (Mirror) newspaper

Rustam Mikailov, correspondent of the "Zerkalo" paper, lodged a complaint on the Police Administration of the Surakhanskiy District of Azerbaijan in the context of beating him during the yesterday's football match. R. Mikailov, sports observer of the paper, was covering the Cup of Azerbaijan football match between the teams "Karabakh" and "Neftchi." The incident took place at the end of the match, when the referee sent two players off the ground for rude behaviour. Angry fans and representatives of football clubs rushed on the referee. When police interfered into the incident R. Mikailov got his turn. Despite his presenting his journalist's ID to the approaching policemen, they twisted his arms and kicked several times with truncheons, as a result of which he received serious bodily injuries.

We note here that R. Mikailov was beaten on the World Day of Freedom of Press, and now he is the first employee of the "Zerkalo" paper who suffered from the Azerbaijani police violence.

Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent