Statement of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry

Baku, February 13, AzerTAc On 19 August 2014, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan sentenced Azerbaijani citizen Emin Huseynov to pretrial detention under the Criminal Code articles 192.2.2 (illegal business), 213.2.2 (tax evasion) and 308.2, and declared him wanted. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev said in this regard that the investigation carried out under the court verdict discovered that chairman of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety Emin Huseynov has engaged in illegal business over unregistered grant contracts, making a great deal of money – AZN 1,575,956 – but evading from taxes AZN 247,551 tax to be paid to the state budget. “Though Emin Huseynov has received several investigation summons since 7 July 2014, he went into hiding at the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in Azerbaijan. According to the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, every citizen has the right to the presumption of innocence. The Investigation Department on Grave Crimes under the Prosecutor General's Office is conducting an investigation on the criminal case,” said Hajiyev.