27 August 2007

Alert

Supreme Court upholds editor's prison sentence


Incident details

Eynulla Fatullayev

editor(s)

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 24 August 2007 CPJ press release:

Supreme Court upholds Azerbaijani editor's prison sentence

New York, August 24, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces the continued imprisonment of Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the now-shuttered Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan upheld Fatullayev's 30-month prison sentence on charges of defaming Azerbaijanis in an article. Fatullayev has been held in the Ministry of National Security isolation ward since his April 20 conviction by the Yasamal District Court in Baku. His family has been denied visitation rights, said Uzeir Jafarov, editor after Fatullayev of Gündalik Azarbaycan and Fatullayev's trustee.

Neither Jafarov nor Fatullayev's defense lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov, were notified of Wednesday's Supreme Court hearing, Jafarov told CPJ. A four-judge panel affirmed Fatullayev's earlier verdict in the absence of legal counsel and journalists. Fatullayev's defense is preparing an appeal to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, Jafarov told CPJ.

"We are shocked by the continued politicized imprisonment of Eynulla Fatullayev and the harassment of his staffers," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "We call on Azerbaijani authorities to drop all charges against Fatullayev, release him immediately, and allow his two newspapers to resume work without fear of reprisal."

In addition to being imprisoned on a defamation indictment, Fatullayev is being investigated on a vague charge of "terrorism," filed against him by national security authorities in May. If convicted, the embattled editor faces 12 additional years behind bars. In late May, agents searched both Realny Azerbaijan's and Gündalik Azarbaycan's offices for ties to terrorism, and confiscated all the papers' 21 computers, in effect paralyzing the newsrooms' operations. The newspapers' staffers have been unemployed since, Jafarov told CPJ. The ministry has interrogated at least five of the journalists, according to local press reports.

Defamation charges against Fatullayev stemmed from an undated Internet posting attributed to him, which he said he did not write. Tatyana Chaladze, head of the Azeri Center for Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons, filed a civil lawsuit in February and a criminal complaint in April against Fatullayev. Chaladze cited the remark, which said Azerbaijanis were responsible for the 1992 massacre of ethnic Azeri residents of the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Khodjali, according to local press reports.

Later, press reports said Fatullayev's April conviction was actually based on his 2005 article titled "Karabakhsky Dnevnik" ("Karabakh Diary"), in which he wrote that Armenian forces had given an escape corridor to Azeri civilians who would try to flee Khodjali. Fatullayev had published the article in Realny Azerbaijan's predecessor, the opposition magazine Monitor, which folded after the March 2, 2005, contract-style murder of its editor, Elmar Huseynov. However, Fatullayev was convicted because of the Internet comment attributed to him, not because of this article.

The terror charge against Fatullayev comes from a commentary, headlined "The Aliyevs Go to War," published earlier this year in the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and written by reporter Rovshan Bagirov. The commentary focused on President Ilham Aliyev's foreign policy regarding Iran. It contained harsh, critical language about the Azerbaijani government. Security officials did not elaborate on the charges or explain how the piece amounted to terrorism. The criminal investigation of Fatullayev on that charge is ongoing, according to local press reports.

With seven behind bars, Azerbaijan is the leading jailer of journalists in Europe and Central Asia. On August 2, CPJ expressed its concern regarding Azerbaijan's press freedom record at a U.S. Helsinki Commission hearing on "Freedom of the Media in the OSCE Region."

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org



Source:

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 7th Ave., 11th Floor
New York, NY 10001
USA
info (@) cpj.org
Phone: +1 212 465 1004
Fax: +1 212 465 9568
 

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More on this case

Journalist Eynulla Fatullayev granted amnesty in honour of 28 May holiday 27 May 2011 Joint appeal to UNESCO director-general over Fatullayev case 4 May 2011 Government claims to have complied with ECHR judgment on Fatullayev case 4 May 2011 "Fifty Fatullayevs" outside London Embassy demand release of jailed Azerbaijani journalist 19 April 2011 Family of imprisoned journalist receives threatening phone call 13 April 2011 CPJ concerned about Fatullayev's safety, calls for his release 23 March 2011 Council of Europe Committee of Ministers must demand journalist's release, says International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan 2 March 2011 Fatullayev fears for his safety in prison 11 February 2011 Baku Appeals Court denies Fatullayev's appeal, defies ECHR ruling 3 February 2011 Supreme Court rejects imprisoned editor's appeal 3 January 2011 Council of Europe Committee calls on government to release Eynulla Fatullayev 8 December 2010 Fatullayev's fate lies with the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, says ARTICLE 19 6 December 2010 Editor Eynulla Fatullayev remains jailed despite ECHR call for his release 12 November 2010 In latest humiliation, newspaper editor appears in court inside cage 8 November 2010 Send a letter in support of jailed editor 29 October 2010 Joint letter calls for newspaper editor's release 28 October 2010 ECHR upholds decision on release of Eynulla Fatullayev 21 October 2010 Authorities say imprisoned journalist will not be freed regardless of appeal outcome 22 July 2010 Imprisoned editor sentenced to an additional two and a half years in prison 7 July 2010 IRFS appeals to president as imprisoned editor starts hunger strike 7 June 2010 Comply with European Court decision on case of imprisoned journalist, ARTICLE 19, International PEN urge 19 May 2010 Authorities urged to comply with ECHR order and release editor Eynulla Fatullayev 23 April 2010 European Court of Human Rights orders journalist's release 23 April 2010 Eynulla Fatullayev's appeal rejected 18 March 2010 Eynulla Fatullayev and family threatened 18 March 2010 Imprisoned editor concerned over possible threat to his life 3 March 2010 Editor's detention prolonged by two more months 1 March 2010 CPJ delegation calls for Eynulla Fatullayev's release 22 January 2010 Editor to be tried on new charge, sentenced to two months' detention in isolation unit 6 January 2010 Authorities trump up new charge against award-winning editor Eynulla Fatullayev 31 December 2009 Detained journalist harassed in prison 27 October 2008 Supreme Court upholds editor's conviction 4 June 2008 Imprisoned editor starts hunger strike to protest jailing of journalists 26 March 2008 Appeals court upholds conviction of critical editor 17 January 2008 Outspoken editor Eynulla Fatullayev sentenced to eight and a half years in prison 30 October 2007 New terrorism charge brought against opposition editor already serving 30-month sentence for defamation 6 July 2007 Imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev receives death threats, inhumane treatment; his conviction confirmed 8 June 2007 Fifteen journalists seek political asylum in protest against closure of newspapers 29 May 2007 Imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev charged with terrorism; his home searched, his newspaper's computers, documents confiscated 24 May 2007 Imprisoned editor target of death threat; two newspapers evicted amid media harassment campaign 22 May 2007 Editor of critical newspaper brutally beaten after protesting conviction of colleague 24 April 2007 Embattled editor jailed for libel and insult over article he denies writing 23 April 2007

Azerbaijan

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