JAILING OF AZERI EDITOR SPARKS INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY
By Shahin Rzayev and Elshad Guliev in Baku
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
April 27 2007
OSCE hits out at authorities after opposition editor handed jail
sentence.
The jailing of an outspoken newspaper editor last week has provoked
strong international criticism of the government’s record on freedom
of speech.
Einulla Fatullayev, founder and senior editor of two leading newspapers
in Azerbaijan, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison,
after being found guilty of libel on April 20.
He was ruled to have insulted Azerbaijani refugees from the Karabakh
town of Khojaly in an article published in April 2005 in Realny
Azerbaijan, the weekly newspaper he founded.
No action was taken when the article first came out, but in January
this year Fatullayev reiterated what he had said in an interview to
an Azerbaijani online forum.
He was sued by the leader of the Centre for the Protection of Rights
of Refugees and Displaced Persons Tatyana Chaladze, on behalf of the
Khojaly residents. On April 6, a court ordered Fatullayev and his
newspapers to pay a fine of 20,000 manats (23,000 US dollars).
Fatullayev was accused of having said in his article that Azerbaijan’s
authorities and armed forces had deliberately failed to support the
defenders of Khojaly at a crucial point in the siege of the town in
February 1992.
He said his allegation was based on numerous interviews and videos
given to him by Khojaly residents themselves. The prosecution demanded
that Fatullayev produce the evidence, however he refused to do so,
whereupon the court pronounced him guilty.
Chaladze then pursued the case further and demanded that Fatullayev be
charged with libel under article 147 of the criminal code. On April
20, the court pronounced him guilty and the editor was given a jail
sentence and taken into custody straight from the courtroom.
Fatullayev’s arrest outraged his colleagues. On April 24, around
60 journalists defied a ban to rally in the centre of Baku under
the slogans "Freedom to Einulla Fatullayev!" and "Stop suppressing
freedom of speech in Azerbaijan!" The police broke up the protest
within 20 minutes, but no one was hurt.
A Committee for Protection of the Rights of Einulla Fatullayev has been
set up, headed by Arzu Abdullayeva, a famous human rights activist
and chairperson of the National Committee of the Helsinki Citizens’
Assembly.
One member of the committee Hikmet Hajizade, a well-known political
analyst and former Azerbaijani ambassador in Moscow, said, "I still
cannot believe what has happened. It’s a nightmare, I want to wake
up from it but I can’t. I protest against this incident and call on
all democratic forces in the country to protest against the arrest
of Einulla Fatullayev."
A recent visitor to Fatullayev in prison said he had no complaints
about the conditions in which he was being held, but was angry about
the trial and sentence and believed he was the victim of a political
decision.
As if to confirm that the newspaper as a whole was under attack,
on the same evening as Fatullayev was sentenced the deputy editor of
the newspaper Uzeir Jafarov, was attacked by three unknown assailants.
Jafarov was hospitalised with multiple injuries. He said that he
believed he had been attacked because of the testimony he gave in
court and that he recognised one of his attackers from the courtroom.
The theme of Khojaly – the worst massacre of the Karabakh war – is an
extremely painful one in Azerbaijan and Fatullayev has been widely
criticised in some quarters for his article and also for traveling
to Nagorny Karabakh, which is under Armenian control.
Opposition journalist and veteran of the Karabakh war, Rei Kerimoglu,
said the verdict passed on Fatullayev was too light. "Einulla should
have been sentenced to at least ten years’ imprisonment and it would
be even better, if he died in the prison," he told IWPR.
But another deputy editor of the imprisoned man Chingiz Sultansoi said
the authorities had cynically used the Khojaly refugees’ lawsuit as
a pretext. "We openly criticised facts of corruption, human rights
violations and problems in the army," he said. "The authorities
repeatedly tried to intimidate us. We even had to stop publishing
our newspaper in November because of many threats we’d received."
Sultansoi said the newspapers would be coming out despite the arrest.
"We will keep on fulfilling our mission and delivering truthful
information to Azerbaijani readers," he said.
Fatullayev’s newspapers, Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelike Azerbaijan,
are leading critics of the government. Realny Azerbaijan is frequently
linked to a power struggle within the ruling elite, as it is frequently
associated with Minister of Emergencies Kemaleddin Geidarov and the
parliamentary deputy Husein Abdullayev who was recently arrested in
controversial circumstances.
Opposition political analyst Zardusht Alizade said that the
imprisonment of the editor was part of this ongoing feud. "Ahead of
the presidential elections of 2008 and the forthcoming division of
the huge oil revenues coming into the country, the ruling elite is
trying to remove or subdue all possible rivals," said Alizade.
By chance, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s
Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti was visiting
Azerbaijan last week. He was sharply critical of the government’s
record on freedom of speech, calling Azerbaijan "the champion in the
number of cases against journalists".
"Freedom of the press in Azerbaijan has been under an increasing
pressure from the authorities," said Haraszti. "Alongside Fatullayev,
there are already five representatives of Azerbaijan’s press being
held in custody. Unfortunately, all the cases are constructed on
politically motivated accusations and were conducted in violation of
the principles of freedom of speech."
Haraszit said the OSCE would insist that Azerbaijan remove from
its criminal code the articles making the expression of opinions a
potential criminal offence and would recommend that the country adopt
a law on defamation as soon as possible.
Government officials have mostly avoided commenting on the imprisonment
of Fatullayev and the attack on his deputy. Ali Hasanov, a leading
official in the presidential administration, said some prosecuted
journalists had only themselves to blame. "We should try to ensure
that journalists take into consideration rights of citizens and people
are patient about what is published," he said.
Hasanov said it was possible that all five detained journalists might
be freed and this would happen within the law.
Azerbaijani human rights activists have declared Fatullayev a political
prisoner and say they are ready to pursue his case all the way to the
European Court of Human Rights. His lawyers are preparing an appeal.
Shahin Rzayev is IWPR’s Azerbaijan Country Director. Elshad Guliev
is a freelance journalist working in Baku.