Baku court takes into custody Sputnik Azerbaijan’s head and chief editor for 4 months

The court of Baku has taken into custody Head of Sputnik Azerbaijan Igor Kartavikh and Editor-in-chief Evgeny Belousov for four months, APA reports.

To remind, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs announced a “special operation” at the Baku office of Sputnik Azerbaijan. The Moscow-based Sputnik agency told RIA Novosti that contact with the editorial office has not been established. In front of the building, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs patrol cars and black microbuses with tinted windows were parked.

Later, Sputnik reported that Azerbaijani security forces had arrested two Russian journalists—Igor Kartavikh, head of the editorial board of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and Evgeny Belousov, the editor-in-chief—on absurd charges. According to reports from local media, the employees were accused of being “FSB agents” in a baseless manner.