In Azerbaijan, journalist Ismailoglu fears arrest on false charges

The well-known Azerbaijani journalist Makhal Ismailoglu, who was detained on June 27 and then released after many hours of interrogation by the police of the Apsheronsk District of Baku, is convinced that the authorities want to arrest him on false charges for his critical publications.

The journalist himself informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent after his release that the inspector interrogated him in relation to the complaint of his neighbour's housemaid. "I was presented evidences of some witnesses of the violence on my part in relation to that woman, but it's all a pure falsification. These witnesses now assert that they gave no evidences and saw nothing of the sort," said Mr Ismailoglu.

"I think that the aim of the authorities is to arrest me for my critical publications, having accused of an uncommitted crime," the journalist said. He also told that he was again summoned to the inspector on Monday, June 30, and added that no charges were presented to him yet.

Journalist Ismailoglu for many years headed the leading official newspapers named "Khalg". However, quite unexpectedly, in 2000 he was dismissed, and then started sharply criticizing the authorities in the pages of the oppositional press. Now Mr Ismailoglu is afraid to add the list of oppositional journalists arrested in Azerbaijan.