23:59, 13 June 2015

Azerbaijani rights defender Emin Guseinov arrives in Switzerland

Emin Guseinov, an Azerbaijani rights defender and director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), who left Baku, has arrived in Switzerland. He is in complete safety, as Florian Irminger, the head of the Geneva office of the human rights organization "Human Rights House", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Let us remind you that on February 11 this year the Norwegian Foundation "Human Rights House" said that Guseinov was forced to hide – since August 18, 2014, – in the premises of the Swiss Embassy in Baku, trying to escape repressions. Guseinov went into hiding after the authorities conducted a search in the office of the IRFS, headed by him, and confiscated the equipment and documents, said Florian Irminger.

On June 13, Mekhman Guseinov, Emin's brother, said that Emin had left the country. Guseinov left Baku accompanied by Didier Burkhalter, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, who was in Baku in connection with the opening ceremony of the First European Games, said Irminger.

According to his story, "the Guseinov's departure was preceded by lengthy negotiations with the Azerbaijani authorities, who, finally, allowed him to leave the country."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Yelena Khrustalyova

Source: CK correspondent