The Baku bureau of RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service was raided by prosecutors Friday, Dec 26.

The officials said they had a court ruling that the office would be closed down. They demanded access to a safe holding RFE/RL documents and files, and held up to 20 staff members.

The Prosecutor General's Office told the Associated Press the search was conducted to investigate a "grave crime" but would not elaborate.

The station's top reporter Khadija Ismayilova was jailed earlier this month pending a trial on charges of driving a man to suicide, which critics dismissed as an attempt to gag an influential journalist.