RFE/RL's Baku Bureau raided By Prosecutor's Office

RFE/RL's Baku bureau has been raided by members of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office, who say they have a court decision "to close the office."

Kenan Aliyev, the director of RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, says at least 10 members of the Prosecutor's Office entered the Baku bureau at 10:30 a.m. local time accompanied by armed police officers.

They are currently holding up to 20 bureau staff members in a single room and have reportedly demanded access to a safe holding bureau documents and personnel files.

Prosecutors say the court order is related to an ongoing investigation of RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service as a foreign-funded entity.

Azerbaijani prosecutors have staged similar raids in recent months on other foreign-funded groups, including the IREX civil society NGO and the National Democratic Institute.

Both those entities were ultimately shut down.

This latest move by the authorities in Baku comes just weeks after investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who hosts a daily program for RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, was ordered held in pretrial detention after being accused of encouraging a man to commit suicide -- a charge that has beenbroadly condemned as a flagrant attempt to silence her critical voice.