The chief editors of Sputnik Azerbaijan have been placed into pre-trial detention for four months
A Baku court on Tuesday ordered the pre-trial detention of Igor Kartavykh, head of Sputnik Azerbaijan’s editorial office, and Editor-in-Chief Evgeny Belousov for four months.
The Russian journalists were arrested a day before during a police raid on the Russian news agency’s office in the Azerbaijani capital. The country’s authorities claimed the agency has been operating “through illegal financing,” while Sputnik dismissed the allegations as “absurd.”
According to Azerbaijani media, a total of seven suspects have been detained in the case involving the Russian journalists. However, only the senior editors ended up in pre-trial custody. The case reportedly involves multiple offenses, including fraud, illegal business dealings and money laundering.
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