Rights defender Ismaylova reports that Baku police refused to take her application about attack

The application of Gyunay Ismaylova, a lawyer from the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), that on January 26 she was attacked in Baku, was not accepted by the police, said the rights defender.

On January 26, Ismaylova reported that some unidentified man grabbed her by the throat and tried to punch. According to her story, she managed to call neighbours for help, after which the assailant ran away.

After her call to the "102" service, she was visited by four policemen, Gyunay Ismaylova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"One of them asked me to come to the police station and write an application. But today, when I came there, they refused to take my application, saying that the above policeman is out of office," said the woman, adding that she was invited to come again on January 28.

If they fail to accept her application on January 28, then Ismaylova, in her opinion, "will have every reason to believe that the police are evading the investigation" and that the attack on her was organized by the authorities in retaliation for her human rights activities.

Last summer she received a message with the threat, said Ismaylova.

Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media, has expressed her concern about the attack on Ismaylova and about the deteriorating situation with the freedom of speech in Azerbaijan.

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