Hakimeldostu Mehdiyev, the correspondent of the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in Sharur, in the north of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, has been charged by the district prosecutor’s office with “diverting electricity” under article 189-1 of the criminal code.
Sanan Pashayev, the official in charge of the investigation, made Mehdiyev signed an undertaking that he would not leave the Sharur district. The charge carries a maximum fine of 3,000 manat (2,600 euros), which could be withdrawn from his salary over a period of up to two years.
“We again call on the authorities to abandon these absurd proceedings, the sole aim of which is to intimidate Mehdiyev,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said.
Mehdiyev, whose power supply is still disconnected, has been harassed by the regional authorities every since early July, when he accompanied a visiting German journalist, Michael Ludwig. Nakhchivan is an autonomous Azerbaijani exclave located between Armenia and Iran.
