The employees of the site bastainfo.com Rufat Bakhishbeyli, Kenul Ali, and deputy chairman of the youth organization of the Musavat party were questioned on July 14 as witnesses in the Baku city prosecutor’s office, according to the “Musavat” party. Their testimony was taken regarding the criminal case brought against the site bastainfo.com. Nothing is said about the details of the interrogation. The “Musavat”party issued a statement in connection with lengthy interrogations of employees of the lawsuit.

The statement said that the lawsuit against the site bastainfo.com o the Article 313 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of knowingly false information, due negligence) on 7 July in the Prosecutor General’s Office has no legal basis.

The statement says about illegal blocking the entrance the territory of Azerbaijan to the site bastainfo.com on July 10 on the proposal of the Prosecutor General’s Office, and without any court decision. The head of the website, Mustafa Hajibayli, was interrogated for five days as a witness.

The Musavat Party regards the events as another persecution of freedom of speech and expression. The authors of the statement believe that this illegal pressure on the authorities of the site bastainfo.com and the functionaries of the Musavat Party is unacceptable and contradicts the Constitution and the rule of law, this leads to an escalation of tension in the society. The party demands from the authorities to put an end to the pressure.

The prosecutor’s office appealed to the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies to restrict access to the websites of “bastainfo.com”, “criminalaz.com”, “topxeber.az” and “fia.az”. Experts regard this as a restriction of freedom of speech and expression. The authorities blocked access to a number of sites and international organizations criticized these measures.