Elmaddin Shamilzade

Affiliated media: Freelance journalist

Incident date: June 23, 2023

Attack type:

• Confiscation/seizure of property, vehicles, equipment, documents

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

Location: Azerbaijan, Baku

Additional information:

Journalist Elmaddin Shamilzade, who reported on the events in Soyudlu village of Gadabay district in Azerbaijan, where the residents protested against the environmental harm caused by gold mining waste and faced police force, revealed that he has been subjected to violence from the police. The police in the Yasamal district of the capital city of Baku detained Shamilzade and demanded that he delete the video. When the journalist refused, three police officers punched him, struck him with a truncheon, pulled his hair, kicked him in the stomach, and threatened to rape him. Shamilzade said he lost consciousness for around five minutes and, when he awoke, he deleted the video from Facebook. Police then took him to the Baku City Police Department, where a police official threatened to jail him if he spoke publicly about the attack.