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GOVERNMENT STEPS UP SUPPRESSION OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA

Government authorities used "violent force" to disperse a demonstration by 40 journalists in Baku who were protesting the continued detention of their colleagues and the poor state of freedom of expression, reports the Journalists' Trade Union (JuHI). Held on 10 October 2001, the demonstration coincided with an appeal by the Azerbaijani Council of Editors to President Heidar Aliev calling for the release of imprisoned journalists.

The protests came amidst recent court rulings against independent newspapers and the arrests of more journalists "than at any time since the country's independence," eliciting letters of protest from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression (NFFE). IFJ condemned the government's attempts to silence "Milletin Sesi", after three employees of the newspaper were criminally charged on 17 September and imprisoned for publishing an article stating that a high-level government official had been seen at a nightclub. NFFE notes that one of the three "Milletin Sesi" staff, Editor-in-chief Shahbaz Khuduoglu, is a member of the International Press Institute. He was dealt a six-month jail term. Meanwhile, on 16 September, a district court ordered authorities to shut down "Milletin Sesi's" operations after two civil servants alleged that they had been insulted by an article in the newspaper that linked them with corruption, according to IFJ.

In two other incidents last month, IFJ reports that independent newspapers "Baku Boulevard" and "Avropa" were dealt substantial fines totaling almost US$60,000 after separate courts ruled that they were guilty of defamation charges. "The fines levied violate Azerbaijan's own law on mass media, which clearly states that fines cannot exceed three times the newspaper's monthly expenses," says IFJ. Since both court decisions constitute "a violation of freedom of expression," IFJ said it raised serious questions about the independence of the judiciary.

The repressive conditions under which the media operate in Azerbaijan have been noted by the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), reports the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations. In a 4 October statement, the OSCE's Representative on Freedom of the Media, Freimut Duve, remarked that there had been an "unprecedented rise in the number of journalists who have been targets of the government's most recent crackdown." He added, "This type of severe intimidation and harassment [has] the presumed intent of putting the independent media in Azerbaijan out of business." For more information, see www.juhiaz.org/cascfen/, www.ifj.org, www.nffe.no and IFEX "Communiques" #10-35, #10-5, #9-38 and #9-34.