Azerbaijan: Security ministry hits opposition editor with new charges
Committee to Protect Journalists press release, New York
5 Jul 07
Text of press release by the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) on 5 July
New York, 5 July, 2007: The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores
the continued persecution of Eynulla Fatullayev, imprisoned editor of
the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language
daily Gundalik Azarbaycan, and that of his staff. The Ministry of
National Security (MNB) brought a new criminal charge of incitement to
ethnic and religious hatred against Fatullayev on Tuesday, and it
interrogated three journalists from the now-shuttered Gundalik
Azarbaycan on Wednesday.
The government also formally charged Fatullayev with terrorism in
Sabail District Court in Baku on Tuesday. The government’s intention to
file terror charges was first disclosed on 16 May. Together, the new
charges could bring up to 17 years in prison. Fatullayev is already
serving a 30-month jail term on a libel conviction.
"We are shocked by these charges against Eynulla Fatullayev, which seem
part of systemic campaign of persecution to silence him and destroy his
newspapers," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "We call on
authorities to withdraw the charges immediately."
According to local press reports and the Institute for Reporter Freedom
and Safety (IRFS), a Baku-based press freedom group, the MNB charged
Fatullayev with terrorism, and incitement of national, ethnic, or
religious hatred. The charges stem from a commentary headlined, "The
Aliyevs Go to War," published earlier this year in the Russian-language
weekly Realny Azerbaijan and written by Rovshan Bagirov. The commentary
focused on President Ilham Aliyev’s foreign policy regarding Iran and
it contained harshly critical language about the Azerbaijani
government. MNB officials did not elaborate on the charges or explain
how the piece amounted to terrorism and incitement of hatred.
On Wednesday, the MNB interrogated Gundalik Azarbaycan editors
Shahvaled Chobanoglu, Uzeir Jafarov, and Khalid Kazimli about the
paper’s financing, its sales, the topics Fatullayev covered, and the
weekly’s editorial independence from Realny Azerbaijan. Chobanoglu was
also questioned about "The Aliyevs Go to War," although the piece did
not appear in Gundalik Azarbaycan, the IRFS reported.
The terror charges against Fatullayev and the interrogation of his
staffers reflect the government’s aggressive recent retaliation against
the publications.
Local authorities evicted both Realny Azerbaijan and Gundalik
Azarbaycan from their Baku offices on 21 May, saying that the office
building violated safety regulations. Authorities seized computers from
the premises, which have been sealed.
On 6 June, a Baku judge upheld an earlier libel conviction against
Eynulla Fatullayev and left intact his 30-month jail sentence.
Authorities dismissed the journalist’s complaints of ill treatment in
MNB custody. In April, Fatullayev was sentenced to 30 months in prison
on charges of libelling and insulting Azerbaijanis in a piece that the
journalist said he did not write. Fatullayev said the charges were
fabricated.