Tofiq Yaqublu, Yeni Musavat
Medium:Print
Charge:Retaliatory
Imprisoned:January 24, 2013

Police arrested Yaqublu, a columnist for the leading opposition daily Yeni Musavat, when he arrived at the town of Ismayilli to interview local residents about the causes of riots in the town, according to news reports.

On February 4, 2013, the Nasimi District Court in Baku ordered Yaqublu jailed for two months pending trial on charges of organizing mass disorder and violently resisting the police. Ilgar Mammadov, an opposition politician who was arrested with Yaqublu, was imprisoned on similar charges, according to news reports. Authorities extended Yaqublu's pretrial detention several times during the year.

The independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel reported that the charges against the journalist were in connection with the riots in Ismayilli on January 23, 2013. Thousands of local residents demonstrated to demand a local governor's resignation after regional authorities refused to shut down a motel that allegedly housed a brothel, the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. News reports said the motel, which protesters later burned to the ground, allegedly belonged to the family of a high-ranking government official. Authorities sent police to quell the demonstrations; more than 100 residents were detained, the radio station's Azeri service said.

Rauf Ariforglu, Yeni Musavat's chief editor, told Kavkazsky Uzel that his newspaper had sent Yaqublu to Ismayilli to report on the riots and that the journalist had his press card with him at the time of his arrest. Emin Huseynov, head of the Baku-based Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, confirmed that Yaqublu was in the town to report on the unrest, telling CPJ that staff members from the institute saw the journalist working there.

On March 17, 2014, a regional court in Ismayilli convicted Yaqublu on charges of mass disorder and sentenced him to five years in jail, according to news reports. His appeal was denied in September, reports said. He was being held at Prison No. 13 in late 2014, Kavkazsky Uzel reported.

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