HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH EXPRESSES CONCERN WITH SWIFT DETIORATION OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN AZERBAIJAN

Arminfo
2007-02-26

Holly Cartner Executive Director Europe and Central Asia division Human
Rights Watch sent a letter to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. The
letter reads:

Dear President Aliev,

We are writing to express our deep concern about the rapidly
deteriorating environment for independent media in Azerbaijan. We urge
you to take steps to end impunity for violence against journalists
and ensure that Azerbaijan complies with its international commitments
to freedom of expression and the press.

Vibrant public discourse based on freedom of expression and a
diversity of views, provided through diverse sources of information,
is a cornerstone of any democracy. It is hard to underestimate the
role of independent media in ensuring a free and fair vote. We are
deeply concerned that current restrictions on freedom of the press
and of expression, if allowed to continue, will prevent free and fair
elections in 2008.

We are particularly alarmed by violent attacks against members of
the opposition press, which are often perpetrated in public and in
broad daylight, but which rarely result in thorough investigations or
perpetrators being held accountable. Other matters of concern include
a dramatic increase in criminal defamation charges being brought
against journalists by public officials, impediments to ANS TV’s
license renewal, resulting in a brief suspension of its broadcasting,
as well as the eviction of opposition Azadligpaper from its office
premises, and the temporary closure of Realni Azerbaijanand Gundelik
Azerbaijan, two of Azerbajan’s most read publications.

Violent Attacks and Threats against Journalists Human Rights Watch has
received numerous reports of threats and violent attacks by anonymous
assailants against Azeri journalists. Many journalists interviewed
by Human Rights Watch believe that they were attacked or threatened
because of articles they had written that were critical of government
officials. In most cases, journalists report that their assailants
made reference to their reporting during the attack.

As the above cases indicate, there is a growing environment of
state hostility toward independent and opposition media and that
raises serious concern about the security of independent journalists
in Azerbaijan. What is more, there is widespread impunity for such
attacks. We urge you to ensure that there is no government pressure on
Azerbaijan’s independent media outlets and that journalists can work
in safety, and to task the appropriate government ministries to take
the necessary steps to promptly investigate all reports of violence
or threats against journalists and hold all perpetrators accountable.

We would welcome information on the steps you take to send a clear
signal to all government institutions that you will not tolerate
impunity for such attacks. We would also be interested in receiving
information about the extent to which the perpetrators have been
identified, charged, and convicted in any of the cases documented
in this letter, as well as details about the sentences given. As
described above, government officials have also made use of criminal
libel laws and other politically motivated criminal charges to punish
journalists for criticism of government policies or officials, and
in such cases journalists rarely obtain a fair hearing before an
impartial tribunal. In several cases the charges have resulted in
the permanent closure of independent media outlets. We urge you to
announce a legal moratorium on criminal lawsuits against journalists
and meanwhile initiate legislative amendments transferring the libel,
defamation, and verbal insult provisions from the Criminal Code to the
Civil Law domain. The Civil Code should also be amended to establish
a reasonable monetary cap on damages in civil defamation suits.

We also call on you to ensure that no additional administrative
obstacles are created for ANS or other such broadcasters in their
quest for a broadcast license and that all regulations related
to broadcast licensing are applied in a manner that ensures media
diversity in Azerbaijan.

If government hostility toward independent and opposition media is
allowed to continue, the 2008 elections are likely to be hampered
by the same serious flaws that have been the hallmark of most recent
elections in Azerbaijan, the letter read.