Azerbaijani fugitive journalist attacked in France, his wife murdered

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. A gunman has attacked Azerbaijani journalist Rahim Namazov exiled from Azerbaijan for criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities and his wife in France, ARMENPRESS reports Deutsche Welle informs.

The incident happened on March 30 in Colomiers city in southern France. Rahim Namazov was seriously injured and his wife was killed. Karine Michelet-Traval, the Mayor ofColomiersdid not rule out the version of a political revenge.

According to a police source, Namazov and his wife were driving in a residential district when 7 shots were fired in their direction. Colomiers Mayor said that one cannot rule out the possibility of a political revenge since Namazov is a journalist who was tortured and imprisoned in his country, after which he found a political asylum in France. Doctors are struggling to save Namazov’s life.

Rahim Namazov was one of the harshest critics of the Azerbaijani authorities. He had been imprisoned before seeking political asylum in France in 2010. In a footage posted in Youtube in 2010 Namazov told that he was imprisoned in Azerbaijan after he published an article about mistreatment towards soldiers in Azerbaijani army.

English –translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan