Reporters without borders (press release), France
Oct 31 2007

Long jail term for newspaper editor confirms Azerbaijan’s poor
ranking in world press freedom index

Reporters Without Borders condemns the sentence of eight and a half
years in prison and fine of 200,000 manats (230,000 dollars) imposed
yesterday on newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev because of an
article about Azerbaijan’s support for US military operations in the
region. He was found guilty of `terrorism threat’ (article 214.1 of
the criminal code), tax evasion (article 213.2.2) and inciting racial
hatred (article 283.2.2).

`Fatullayev’s conviction is simply outrageous as there was absolutely
no evidence for these charges,’ the press freedom organisation said.
`This prosecution and an earlier one were politically motivated and
mark a dangerous development for press freedom in Azerbaijan. We call
on President Aliev to display clemency and have him released. Our
hopes are also pinned on the European Court of Human Rights. It
should tell the Azerbaijani authorities that this travesty of justice
fools no one.’

Reporters Without Borders added: `The article for which Fatullayev
was convicted was just a foreign policy analysis. The authorities
used it to punish a journalist who, in their view, was overly
critical. This verdict comes amid a steady increase in harassment of
the independent press, which is why Azerbaijan was ranked 139th out
of 169 countries in our latest world press freedom index.’

Fatullayev, who edits two of the country’s most important dailies,
Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan, was tried by a serious
crimes court in Baku headed by judge Mehdi Asadov, who ordered the
seizure of the newspapers’ 23 computers as well as imposing the jail
term and fine.

The trial, which began on 10 October, focused on an article headlined
`The Alievs prepare for war,’ which appeared in the Russian-language
Realny Azerbaijan in May. Fatullayev argued in this article that
Azerbaijan would be exposed to reprisals if the United States
attacked Iran and he cited possible Azerbaijani targets. The charge
of inciting racial hatred was based on the fact that he also warned
that this policy could revive ethnic tension within Azerbaijan.

After the verdict was read out, Fatullayev ironically thanked the
court for its `overly mild’ sentence. He also referred to Elmar
Husseynov, the editor of the independent weekly Monitor, who was
gunned down in March 2005. In an article in March of this year,
Fatullayev accused the authorities of obstructing the investigation
into his murder. He received death threats following the article.

This is the second time Fatullayev has been tried and convicted this
year. In April, he was found guilty of libelling the army in an
article accusing the Azerbaijani armed forces of sharing
responsibility with their Armenian counterparts for the deaths of
hundreds of civilians during an attack by Armenian troops in 1992 on
the village of Khojali in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

His two newspapers, Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan, have
been closed since May, when much of their material was confiscated on
the grounds of a violation of fire prevention regulations.

It was in May, after Reporters Without Borders added President Aliev
to its list of press freedom predators, that the authorities
announced that they would no longer cooperate with the organisation.
Azerbaijan fell four places (to 139th position) in the 2007 world
press freedom index. Seven journalists are currently in prison in
Azerbaijan.

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