The Khatai District Court of Baku has ordered the arrest of Igor Kartavykh, head of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and Yevgeny Belousov, the outlet’s editor-in-chief, for a period of four months, TASS reports.
The two Russian media executives are facing criminal charges under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, including: fraud causing large-scale damage, illegal entrepreneurship with substantial income, legalization of assets acquired through criminal means.
The court ruling follows recent detentions and investigations involving employees of Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local branch of the Russian state-run news agency. Authorities have not disclosed further details regarding the nature of the alleged offenses or the timeline of events leading up to the arrests.
