February 18, the Global Network Initiative (GNI) called on the governmnet of Azerbaijan to drop the criminal investigation against Emin Huseynov.
"The Azerbaijani government is persecuting Emin Huseynov for the same reasons that international human rights organizations work with him: his tireless efforts to protect journalists and defend online freedoms. They should immediately drop the charges against him and other imprisoned reporters and activists", said GNI Board Chair Mark Stephens.
Emin Huseynov, director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), journalist and media rights advocate went into hiding August 2014 shortly after he was barred from leaving the country for medical treatment and the IRFS office was raided by the authorities.
Since August Emin has been living at the Swiss Embassy in Baku. The story of Huseynov's whereabouts was made public by the Swiss news program "Rundschau" and aired February 12.
IRFS is a GNI civil society member.