Court orders Khadija Ismayilova to pay over 26,000 US dollars to tax authorities

Today, the Baku Economic and Administrative Court has partially granted the claim filed by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Taxes against journalist Khadija Ismayilova. The defendant treated the claim against her as an attempt to limit her cooperation with the Western media.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that journalist Khadija Ismayilova became well-known for her journalistic investigations of corruption in Azerbaijan. In September 2015, she was sentenced to 7.5 years of imprisonment on the charges of economic crimes. In May 2016, the Supreme Court (SC) replaced her real term of imprisonment with 3.5 years of conditional sentence with a probation period of five years.

Today, the trial on the claim filed by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Taxes, which lasted for a year and a month, has been ended, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been told by Khadija Ismayilova. "The case against me was instituted in November 2017, after I began to receive cash bonuses awarded by international organizations. The Ministry of Taxes secured the arrest of my accounts and demanded from me to pay off my tax debt in the amount of 63,138 manats (37,000 US dollars). Out of the above amount, I allegedly hid 45,145 manats (26,500 US dollars) from taxation as a profit tax when I was the head of the Baku bureau of the 'Radio Azadliq' in 2008-2010, " explained the journalist.

Khadija Ismayilova has noted that while working for the "Radio Azadliq", she was not a financially responsible person.

The journalist believes that financial sanctions by the Ministry of Taxes are aimed at restricting her cooperation with international media.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 21, 2018 at 03:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.