AZERI AUTHORITIES MAY BRING FRESH CHARGES AGAINST OUTSPOKEN EDITOR – AGENCY

Turan news agency
22 May 07

Baku, 22 May: The National Security Ministry has been searching the
apartment of [jailed opposition editor] Eynulla Fatullayev and the
office of Realnyy Azerbaydzhan newspaper since 1200 [0700 gmt].

It is unclear what has prompted the search. A search warrant from a
court has been presented to employees of the newspaper.

Strangely, the search is being carried out by the National Security
Ministry, which has not been involved in Fatullayev’s case. This
leads us to conclude that the authorities are planning to bring fresh
charges against the Realnyy Azerbaydzhan editor-in-chief, who is now
in custody.

One of the previous charges leveled against Fatullayev was that he
visited Armenia several times. During the trial, he was accused of
collaborating with Armenians. To all appearances, the authorities
have decided to find "evidence" of this collaboration. Ordinary
correspondence via the Internet, chats or forums could be "proof"
of this.

Fatullayev was sentenced to 30 months in prison on 20 April 2007 for
his remarks in an Internet forum.