Journalist Aziz Orudjev arrested for his professional activities, his brother asserts

In Baku, a trial in the case against Aziz Orudjev is scheduled for September 27. The journalist is being prosecuted in connection with his professional activities, claims his brother Anar Orudjev, a founder of the "Kanal-13".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Aziz Orudjev was included in the list of the Azerbaijani Centre for the Protection of Political Prisoners.

The criminal case against Aziz Orudjev has been transferred to the Baku Court for Serious Crimes, reported advocate Elchin Sadygov.

According to the advocate's version, the transfer can be explained by the nature of crimes charged to the journalist under Articles "illegal entrepreneurial activities with a large income" and "abuse of power entailing grave consequences".

The advocate has also added that the charges are related to the activities of the "Kanal-13" and the NGO "Caucasus Media Research Centre" until 2014. Meanwhile, Elchin Sadygov has reminded that Aziz Orudjev was not involved in financial issues of those organizations.

"After I left Azerbaijan in 2014, Aziz directed the channel, which played an important role in the development of free media and which was focused on problems in the society. And only for four months of 2017, the 'Kanal-13' in YouTube was watched 20 million times," said the brother of Aziz Orudjev.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.