BBSNews, NC
April 28 2007
Azerbaijani Government Intensifies Media Crackdown Through ‘Criminal
Libel’ Charges
Azerbaijan: Opposition Editor Sentenced to Prison
HRW via BBSNews – New York, April 28, 2007 — The conviction of
Eynulla Fatullayev, the editor of Azerbaijan’s largest independent
newspaper, for "criminal libel" and "insult," underscores
deteriorating press freedoms in that country, Human Rights Watch said
today.
Map of Azerbaijan, 2005.
Photo Credit: The University of Texas at Austin.
For the map shown above in it’s full size, see "Map of Azerbaijan,
2005.
More maps are available in BBSNews Maps.
On April 20, Yasamal District Court in Baku convicted Fatullayev, the
outspoken editor-in-chief of the independent Realni Azerbaijan and
Gundelik Azerbaijan newspapers, for having committed "criminal libel"
and "insult." The charges were based on an internet posting that the
prosecution attributed to him, which blamed Azerbaijanis for a 1992
massacre in Nagorno-Karabakh. Fatullayev denied writing the posting,
but was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
The same day, unknown assailants attacked one of Fatullayev’s
colleagues at Realni Azerbaijan, Uzeyir Jafarov, who sustained
serious injuries. Fatullayev is the fifth journalist to be imprisoned
in Azerbaijan in the last 10 months.
"Fatullayev’s prosecution was politically motivated, and he should be
immediately released from custody," said Holly Cartner, Europe and
Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The steady rise of
politically motivated defamation charges and violent attacks against
critical journalists is clearly aimed at silencing critical voices in
Azerbaijan."
In its letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev on February 9,
Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of violence and criminal
defamation charges against journalists in Azerbaijan, including
Fatullayev. Human Rights Watch urged the president to take steps to
end impunity for such violence, and ensure that Azerbaijan complies
with its international obligations on freedom of expression and the
press.
Fatullayev’s conviction comes just two weeks after the same court
fined him 10,000 Azeri manats (about US$12,000) for the same offense
in a civil claim brought by Tatiana Chaladze, head of the Azeri
Center for Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons. Chaladze
also initiated the criminal libel and insult charges against
Fatullayev.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has called
for Azerbaijan to abolish the offense of criminal libel. Human Rights
Watch echoed this call in February in its letter to President Aliev.
Fatullayev’s conviction was based on a statement attributed to him
that was posted to the website Azeritricolor. The statement blamed
Azerbaijanis for the 1992 massacre in the village of Khojali in
Nagorno- Karabakh. Chaladze alleged that the statement defamed the
village’s residents.
According to Azerbaijani official statistics, more than 600 people
were killed on February 25, 1992, when ethnic Armenian forces stormed
the predominantly Azeri town of Khojali. Fatullayev denies making the
remark and maintains that it was a set-up intended to put him behind
bars. The remark was apparently linked to an article Fatullayev had
published in 2005, "Karabakh Diary," in which he expressed the view
that Armenian forces maintained a civilian corridor for Azeri
villagers to flee Khojali.
Fatullayev wrote the 2005 article while working as an investigative
journalist for the newspaper Monitor, where he worked until the
murder of his close friend, Monitor editor Elmar Huseynov, in March
2005. Huseynov’s murder remains unsolved. Fatullayev’s Realni
Azerbaijan newspaper is the successor to Monitor, which closed after
Huseynov’s murder.
Fatullayev’s lawyer told Human Rights Watch that, although his
client’s conviction was partially based on statements made in the
2005 article about the Khojali massacre, the article itself was not
included in the evidence against him. Fatullayev plans to appeal his
conviction.
"As a member of the UN’s Human Rights Council, Azerbaijan should be
exemplary in its protection of fundamental human rights like freedom
of expression," said Cartner. "Instead, the authorities have launched
a series of politically motivated flawed trials against critical
journalists, fueling an atmosphere of fear and hostility for the
independent and opposition media."
Just hours after Fatullayev’s conviction on April 20, unknown
assailants brutally beat Fatullayev’s colleague, Realni Azerbaijan
journalist Uzeyir Jafarov. Jafarov told Human Rights Watch that as he
left the Realni Azerbaijan office around 11:45 p.m., two people
attacked him from behind and hit him several times on the head. The
assailants fled only after Jafarov’s colleagues responded to his
calls for help. Jafarov was hospitalized for head trauma and remains
in the hospital. He claimed to have seen one of the assailants in the
court room at Fatullayev’s hearing earlier in the day.
"Attacks on journalists and the lack of accountability for these
crimes are crushing freedom of the press and expression in
Azerbaijan," said Cartner. "If this crackdown on the media continues,
it will be nearly impossible for Azerbaijan to hold free and fair
presidential elections next year."
Background
Eynulla Fatullayev is known for his frequent criticism of Azeri
officials and for exposing instances of government corruption.
Pressure on Fatullayev to stop his journalism had been building for
over a year. Fatullayev was forced to suspend publication of his
newspapers on October 1, after his father was kidnapped. The
kidnappers threatened to kill both Fatullayev and his father if he
continued publishing the newspapers. The editor had to stop
publication of the paper in exchange for his father’s release.
Fatullayev renewed publishing only two months later, but acknowledged
that he did so at his own peril, since the kidnappers remained at
large.
In March, after publishing an article accusing the Azeri authorities
of obstructing the investigation into the murder of Monitor editor
Elmar Huseinov, Fatullayev reported death threats against him and his
family. The Azeri authorities refused to investigate these claims or
offer to protect Fatullayev.
Soon after the statement attributed to Fatullayev about the Khojali
massacre began to circulate on the internet in February, protestors
organized several rallies in front of the Realni Azerbaijan office
and threw eggs and stones at the office windows. Police did nothing
to stop the protestors.
In recent months, high-ranking state officials have initiated
criminal defamation charges against Fatullayev. In September,
Fatullayev was handed a two-year suspended sentence and forced to pay
damages in a criminal libel case brought by Interior Minister Ramil
Usubov. Usubov has brought similar charges against numerous other
independent journalists and newspapers.
The conviction of Fatullayev comes amid the Azerbaijani government’s
growing hostility toward independent and opposition media, which
raises serious concerns about the future of independent media and the
security of journalists in the country. Violence and the threat of
violence against journalists have become frequent in Azerbaijan, and
often such crimes are committed with impunity. A dramatic increase in
defamation charges brought against journalists by state officials has
further contributed to the deteriorating environment for freedom of
expression.