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Reporters Without Borders is outraged to learn that a Baku court extended journalist Rauf Mirkadyrov’s pre-trial detention for another four months on 15 July at the prosecutor-general’s request, the statement is posted on the organization's website.

“By keeping Mirkadyrov in detention, the politicized judicial system is showing that it is bent on persecuting him,” said Johann Bihr, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. “We again call on the authorities to drop the charges and free him at once.”

The statement also notes that Azerbaijan is ranked 160th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Rauf Mirkadirov, columnist of Azerbaijani newspaper "Zerkalo", was arrested on April 18 in Ankara on charges of expiration of documents. On April 19 Mirkadirov was deported to Azerbaijan, where he immediately was arrested and put in custody by the MNS on suspicion of treason. On April 21 the court in Baku sanctioned his arrest for three months. Mirkadirov is accused of the cooperation with special services of Armenia; specifically he is accused of making the transfers of the state secret information, including those about the dislocation of Azerbaijani Armed forces to Armenia during 2008-2009.

On July 17, the MNS and the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan issued a joint statement on Rauf Mirkadirov’s case. The statement read that there were "reasoned suspicions that Rauf Mirkadirov has had conscious cooperation with the secret police of Armenia with an intention of treason."