AZERBAIJAN NEWSPAPER EDITOR TRIAL STARTS

Hemscott, UK
Oct 5 2007

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – An imprisoned Azerbaijani newspaper editor
accused of terrorism-related offenses called the allegations
politically motivated as his trial opened Friday in Baku.

The case against Eynulla Fatullayev is the latest in a series of
prosecutions of independent media figures in the oil-rich Caspian
Sea nation that have raised concerns in the West.

Fatullayev founded the Russian-language weekly Real Azerbaijan and
the Azeri-language daily Everyday Azerbaijan. He was found guilty and
sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison earlier this year for disseminating
false information about an attack during the country’s six-year war
with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In May, prosecutors filed new charges of making a terrorist threat
and inciting inter-ethnic conflict after an article was published in
Real Azerbaijan that criticized President Ilham Aliev for policies
supporting the United States.

The article, written under a pseudonym, also listed strategic sites
in Azerbaijan that could be attacked by Iran if Azerbaijan were to
support Washington in the event of military action against Iran.

At the Court for Grave Crimes Friday, Fatullayev called the charges
‘a political order."I am not waiting for any justice from this
court. I don’t know who I have terrorized — the government of Iran
or Azerbaijan?’ he said.

Last year, a court gave Fatullayev a two-year suspended sentence for
libeling a top law enforcement official.

Aliev, who took over from his father in a 2003 election denounced
by opponents as a sham, has faced persistent criticism over the
heavy-handed treatment of independent media and opposition parties.