By empty (7/28/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Police in Baku detained the editors of several leading newspapers, news agencies, and journalism organizations on 26 July in what Press Club Chairman Aflatun Amashev termed \"an act of psychological terrorism,\" and then released them 90 minutes later, Turan and Interfax reported. Police cited no reason for the detentions, in which the journalists\' cars were flagged down and they were reportedly brutally manhandled. Meeting later the same day, the Editors\' Council decided to request a formal meeting with Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Prosecutor-General Zakir Garalov to discuss the incident.
Police in Baku detained the editors of several leading newspapers, news agencies, and journalism organizations on 26 July in what Press Club Chairman Aflatun Amashev termed \"an act of psychological terrorism,\" and then released them 90 minutes later, Turan and Interfax reported. Police cited no reason for the detentions, in which the journalists\' cars were flagged down and they were reportedly brutally manhandled. Meeting later the same day, the Editors\' Council decided to request a formal meeting with Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Prosecutor-General Zakir Garalov to discuss the incident. Also on 26 July, Garalov told journalists the detained journalists have only themselves to blame. He said he supports a demand by the Justice Ministry that journalists refrain from printing what he termed \"defamatory\" articles about President Heidar Aliev at the behest of unnamed pro-Armenian international organizations in an attempt to demonstrate that the media in Azerbaijan are subjected to pressure. (Turan)