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The office of the Azerbaijani service RFE/RL is finally closed. The procedure of handing over the office of RFE/RL took place on May 6. The leadership of the business center where the media worked since 2006 broke the contract and asked it to leave the office, RFE/RL Baku bureau reports.

Azerbaijani prosecution investigator Sanan Pashayev opened the doors and allowed the employees to take away the equipment and stuff that remained there after the December 26, 2014 arrest. The handover procedure was carried out at the presence of Adil Ismayilov, RFE/RL lawyer, the article reads.

Turan information agency reminds that the Prosecutor’s office has not returned the confiscated stuff, computers and documents since the search and arrest of the office equipment. After that, the investigation claimed that there were financial violations in RFE/RL’s activities and a criminal case connected to that.

The observers and the radio reporters say the persecution of this media outlet is first of all conditioned by the unmasking investigations of ruling clan carried out by the columnist of the radio, Khadija Ismayilova.

Caucasian Knot reminds that on February 23, 2015 the border service of Azerbaijan did not allow Babek Bekir, the former head of Baku bureau RFE/RL, to leave the country as he tried to fly to Tbilisi for treatment. On the same day, the court fined the radio’s reporter Khadija Ismayilova finding her guilty of libel. The Prosecutor’s office of Azerbaijan interrogated the journalist Shakhveled Chobanoglu on February 24, 2015. On February 25, 2015 RFE/RL declared that its reporters were under pressure in Azerbaijan.

Turan writes that Nasimi court of Baku extended the detention term of yet another Azerbaijani journalist, Rauf Mirkadirov, accused of high treason, for 4 months (till September 19). According to the information, the lawyer Fuad Agayev said that the journalist was present at the court hearing and declared that the extension of the detention term was illegal and the charges absurd. The defense is going to appeal the court decision.

It is reminded in the article that Mirkadirov denied his accusation calling it absurd. He was detained in Baku on April 19, 2014 immediately after being deported from Turkey. He was accused of high treason by spying for Armenia. The MNS claims Mirkadirov provided the Armenians with information about military objects and Armed Forces of Azerbaijan for money.

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Search conducted in Baku office of Radio 

Khadija Ismayilova, journalist of Radio Liberty, arrested in Azerbaijan