On the 23rd of June 2023, Elmaddin Shamilzadeh, a journalist, was detained by police in Baku, while speaking to OC Media. Earlier that week, he published footage of local residents being violently dispersed by police in Soyudlu while protesting against the pollution of the area by a mining company Anglo Asian Mining PLC. After detention by police he was summoned to a military conscription unit in Lankaran District.

After his detention, Shamilzadeh’s wife, Sahar Cahan, wrote that an Interior Ministry spokesperson refused to tell her where he was being held. In response to questions regarding what charges were being pressed against him, the spokesperson reportedly stated that ‘he is not accused of anything yet’.