On 18 April 2012, Gunay Musayeva, a journalist at Yeni Musavat, was at the site where SOCAR was demolishing houses illegally constructed in the Sulutepe settlement on the outskirts of Baku. The houses, located on land owned by SOCARand the company wanted to reclaim its land by demolishing the constructions. Residents were protesting the demolition.

Gunay Musayeva was at the site together with Idrak Abbasov, who is also a journalist and who was filming the demolition. Gunay Musayeva witnessed an attack on Idrak by SOCAR security guards. She wanted to prevent the guards from beating Idrak, but someone grabbed her by the hair and another person grabbed her hand. They did not let her go.

It was also reported that an unidentified man kicked Gunay Musayeva in the back and slapped her face when she was filming. Another man grabbed her camera and her journalist’s identification card. She continued to film with her mobile camera, but stopped as another man tried to grab it as well.

Idrak lodged complaints with the authorities, but they were rejected by the courts. Eventually, he complained to the ECtHR that found Azerbaijan guilty in violations of the journalist’s right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as freedom of expression in October 2020.