Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan condemned the attack on the employees of AZTV, the official state television of Azerbaijan, in France.
In a tweet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated, “We strongly condemn the attack on Azerbaijani journalists of AzTV in France.”
“We expect that this heinous attack against journalists will be investigated by French law enforcement agencies in a short period of time, criminals will be identified and punished,” the ministry said.
AzTV employees were attacked while filming in France. As a result, the correspondent and the operator of the TV sustained minor injuries.
The crew of the state television AzTV in France was attacked, the press service of “Azerbaijani Television and Radio Broadcasting” CISC said in a statement.
According to Azerbaijani Television and Radio Broadcasting, journalist Kamil Balakishiyev and cameraman Ogtay Gasymov were attacked the previous day in Nanterre where the crew was preparing a report on the consequences of the riots caused by the murder of a 17-year-old Algerian boy by police.
The journalist and cameraman were slightly injured in the attack and the camera was taken from their hands. Besides, when demanding the return of the camera, the attackers threatened them with weapons.
AzTV described the attack on the Azerbaijani journalists as a “violation of the principles of freedom of expression and independent journalism in general”.
AzTV called on the French law enforcement agencies to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the incident, detain and punish those responsible for the attack on the journalists with weapons and take appropriate measures to compensate for the damage caused.-06B-
