A U.S. government-funded media outlet in Baku, Azerbaijan was raided on Friday by armed state prosecutors who said they have a court order to close the operation.
At least 10 prosecutor office officials, backed by armed police, entered the Radio Azadliq offices and ordered employees to leave the building, before locking them out of the offices, said Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.
Prosecutors said the investigation was being performed because the outlet was a "foreign-funded entity," according to Radio Free Europe, and the prosecutor's office told The Associated Press the search was performed to investigate a "grave crime."
The director of the outlet, Kenan Aliyev, told the AFP news agency that armed police also confiscated their equipment and computers, BBC reported.
A picture was posted online showing the 20 staff members being detained in the office while authorities performed a search, Voice of America reported, and video footage of the raid was also posted to the Radio Free Europe Twitter account.
A U.S. State Department official speaking under the condition of anonymity said the U.S. is "concerned" about the raid.
"We are concerned by reports that employees of the RFE/RL bureau in Baku have been detained in their offices and questioned while the premises were searched by police," the official said.
Nenad Pejic, the agency's editor-in-chief, said the raid was "a flagrant violation of every international commitment and standard Azerbaijan has pledged to uphold."
Earlier in December, a spokesman for President Ilham Aliyev accused the outlet of working for a foreign security service, just before the arrest of one of its journalists.
A court in December ordered a Radio Free Europe journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, to be held in pretrial detention for two months, alleging that she attempted to pressure a man to commit suicide, reported Voice of America.
Two months before that, Azerbaijan authorities banned Ismayilova from traveling abroad. The journalist has extensively covered the business dealings of relatives of President Aliyev, and the president's office has accused the journalist of treason in the past.
Pejic called the charges "outrageous," and said they were part of a "two-year campaign to silence a journalist who has investigated government corruption and human-rights abuses in Azerbaijan."
Radio Free Europe is funded by grants from the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, a federal agency whose mission is "to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy."
