When Ismayilova refused to give in to this appalling blackmail attempt, and continued her principled investigative work, the Azerbaijani authorities amended the country’s legislation in 2012. It has been alleged that, in order to prevent Ismayilova’s investigative work, the authorities deployed the special services of Azerbaijan to illegally film and disseminate footage of the journalist’s private life in an attempt to silence her. The investigations have revealed that Azerbaijan’s ruling family has illegally gained control over virtually all of the most profitable sectors of the economy, including the mining and processing of precious metals, extraction and sale of oil and gas, banking and insurance, telecommunications, transport, construction and hospitality. Numerous investigations by Ismayilova from 2010 to 2014 showed that the family members of President Ilham Aliyev have acquired billions of dollars through abuse of power. Prior to her arrest in December 2014, Khadija Ismayilova, together with journalists from Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), exposed the large-scale illegal enrichment schemes employed by Azerbaijan’s ruling family, namely the use of offshore companies registered in Panama. In September 2015, she was sentenced to prison for seven and a half years on charges of tax evasion and illegal business activities. It is precisely for her groundbreaking reporting that Ismayilova has been languishing behind bars since December 2014. The Panama Papers confirm what had previously been revealed by Ismayilova- that the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is making frequent use of offshore companies to hide its wealth and its ownership of shares in Azerbaijan’s most lucrative businesses. Khadija Ismayilova was a pioneer in exposing large-scale corruption connected to the ruling family in Azerbaijan. The revelations contained in the Panama Papers add further momentum to calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Azerbaijani press freedom hero, journalist Khadija Ismayilova, said the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) today. This statement was originally published by the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) on 12 April 2016. The Panama Papers confirm what had previously been revealed by Ismayilova - that the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is making frequent use of offshore companies to hide its wealth.
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Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS)
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