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"Suppose Rauf Mirkadyrov spied for the Armenians. Then where is the money he has earned? Where did he put them, what the funds, which he according to the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of National Security had received from the Armenians, have been materialized in?" wonders the Azerbaijani news agency "Turan."

Yesterday MNS and General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan issued a joint statement against Rauf Mirkadirov, the journalist of the newspaper "Zerkalo". The statement read that there were "reasonable suspicions about Rauf Mirkadirov’s conscious cooperation with the secret police of Armenia."

The article notes that after the deportation of the journalist his family remained without livelihood. If not for the support of his colleagues from the international organizations, the family would still be without a piece of bread. In the Azerbaijani MNS they are firmly convinced that the cooperation had only material basis.

"There are a lot of questions in the joint statement of the two law enforcement agencies to which Rauf’s lawyers have already responded, but there are also a couple of questions to the comrades in shoulder straps. So, they talk about a "closed" meeting of Rauf Mirkadirov with David Shahnazaryan, as an evidence of meeting with the resident agent. But it seems that even the security officers do not believe in it. They know perfectly well that Shahnazaryan was the close fellow fighter of President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he advocated a phased settlement of the conflict (by releasing the regions around Karabakh), he is rapprochement and cooperation supporter with Azerbaijan and Turkey, he is for the rapprochement with the West and not Russia," reads the article.

Further, the agency wonders, where could Mirkadirov find from the schemes and photos of military units and strategic infrastructure? "Did he secretly come from Turkey and traveled across the country, secretly took pictures and shipped back to Armenia? Okay, let’s believe in it. But where was the counterintelligence for so many years. How could they miss the harmful activities lasting for years, why didn’t they stop him?" Turan writes, noting that those who are interested in any country may to delve in Wikipedia to find information they need.

"The MNS and Prosecutor's Office’s statement also notes about Mirkadirov’s correspondence with Laura Baghdasaryan and David Shahnazaryan. If you talk about 2008, then note that the correspondence of the journalist was under control of more than 5 years! And so, my dears, you were asleep for so many years, quietly watching the work of the spy network?" the author asks.

In its turn, the Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus in an article published by "Turan" agency writes that the joint statement of the special services is not only a Stalinist style, but has also resemblance to McCarthyism, Maoism, and also indicates a low level of professionalism.

"Dear investigators, in which century do you live? Have learnt anything, besides how to invent and falsify charges against the best people in the country? After all, even falsifications besides being cynically should be done (here you have succeeded) professionally and truthfully," says Yunus.

She also notes that Mirkadirov was accused of transferring information to the Armenian side which is openly available in internet.

"If you do not know, then I will explain, that according to this agreement, the OSCE countries (Azerbaijan, if you did not know, is OSCE member country) are obliged to regularly exchange information with other OSCE countries on their armed forces, armaments, including acquisitions as well as military spending, daily activities of troops, military exercises, the development plans of the armed forces, etc." human rights activist says.

According to her, there can be no evidence against Rauf Mirkadirov because he has never done anything against the interests of Azerbaijan.

"And such investigation experts, as you have always existed. They were shooting people in the NKVD under Yezhov and Beria leadership, they were rotting in U.S. prisons during the McCarthy during 1940-1950s of the last century. Today, the name of President Ilham Aliyev is on this blacklist of dictators. And the case of Rauf Mirkadirov, just like the case of late Novruzali Mamedov (former editor of "Tolyshi sado", who was accused of spying and died in prison in Azerbaijan in 2009 - Ed.), will become the symbol of lawlessness in the country," concludes Yunus.

Rauf Mirkadirov, columnist of Azerbaijani newspaper "Zerkalo", was arrested on April 18 in Ankara on charges of expiration of documents. On April 19 Mirkadirov was deported to Azerbaijan, where he immediately was arrested and put in custody by the MNS on suspicion of treason. On April 21 the court in Baku sanctioned his arrest for three months. Mirkadirov is accused of the cooperation with special services of Armenia; specifically he is accused of making the transfers of the state secret information, including those about the dislocation of Azerbaijani Armed forces to Armenia during 2008-2009.