Azerbaijan arrests footballer over journalist’s murder

BAKU: Azerbaijan on Tuesday arrested a footballer over the death of a journalist and rights activist who was severely beaten by attackers after criticising the player on Facebook.
Javid Huseynov, the captain of the Gabala club, and five others including his cousin were detained over the death of journalist Rasim Aliyev on Sunday.
Huseynov and his cousin were arrested on suspicion of covering up a crime, while the others were arrested over the beating. They will be jailed for three months during the ongoing investigation.
Aliyev, a 30-year-old video journalist who formerly worked for a media rights NGO, died in hospital after being beaten.
Aliyev had criticised Huseynov on Facebook for waving a Turkish flag after a match with Cypriot team Apollon Limassol on Thursday and for allegedly making an offensive gesture at a journalist.
Before his death, Aliyev said he received insulting comments to the post and was phoned by a man identifying himself as Huseynov’s cousin as well as by the footballer himself.
Finally Huseynov’s cousin had invited him for tea, Aliyev said.
“I went alone. There were five or six of them and they immediately threw themselves at me and started beating me up,” he added.
An aide to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, said the case was being handled by the interior ministry and the prosecutor general and vowed there would be an “objective investigation.”