About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Alert

Prosecutor says evidence links imprisoned former minister to journalist's murder

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has said it took note of a claim by the prosecutor general that former economic development minister Farkhad Aliev, who is being held on a charge of financing a coup attempt, was involved in the March 2005 murder of Elmar Huseynov, the editor of the "Monitor" opposition weekly.

Prosecutor general Zakir Garalov told journalists on 8 August 2006 that evidence has been found linking Aliev to Haji Mamedov, a police colonel accused of running a kidnapping ring. During a 25 July hearing about the abduction of a businessman's relatives, Mamedov unexpectedly confessed to killing Huseynov on Aliev's orders.

Reporters Without Borders said: "We call on the prosecutor and judges to be suspicious of this leading suspect's belated confession. Investigators should not rule out any possibilities in this case."

Garolov also said an address book found in Aliev's office contained Mamedov's phone number. Aliev's lawyer confirmed this, but said his client nonetheless completely denied having anything to do with the Huseynov murder.

Garalov claimed that Huseynov was murdered as a result of a series of critical articles about Aliev and Azpetrol, an oil consortium that used to be run by his brother, Rafiq Aliev, who - according to Garalov - had previously tried to "buy" Huseynov in 2003.

Aliev has been held since October 2005, ever since President Ilham Aliev accused him of financing an opposition coup attempt prior to the 2005 legislative elections.