Vugar Gurdganli (Alekberov)

Affiliated media: Az24saat.org , Founder

Incident date: August 13, 2024

Attack type:

Criminal/administrative prosecution excluding (1), (2) and (3)

Who attacked: Authorities

Location: Azerbaijan, Baku

Additional information:

The founder of the website Az24saat.org Vugar Gurdganli (Alekberov) was arrested on August 13. The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Turan that Gurdganli, having gained the trust of citizens, embezzled their funds in the amount of over AZN 100,000. A criminal case was opened against him on charges of fraud and he was arrested by court decision. Lawyer Mehman Muradli believes that these charges under Articles 178 and 178.2.4 (fraud and fraud with significant damage) are unfounded. Vugar was detained on August 13, and on the same day, the court arrested him for a month and 12 days, the lawyer said. Gurdganli faces up to 5 years in prison under these articles. The website Az24saat.org was blocked back in 2018, following a complaint by the Electronic Security Service of the Ministry of Communications. In the following period, Gurdganli published posts on social media and on his Facebook page. His publications strongly criticised the government and state bodies.