ARCHIVES: Azerbaijan
Authorities in Azerbaijan have refused to investigate an attack on two newspaper journalists, Yeni Musavat reporter Elmin Badalov and Milli Yol deputy editor Anar Gerayly, by a wealthy businessman’s private security guards. The two journalists were photographing luxury homes in the Baku neighbourhood of Shuvlan on July 28 when they were attacked and beaten by security guards. The guards held them for more than three hours, interrogated them, threatened to put them under permanent surveillance... MORE
The police prevented the staff of the opposition newspaper Azadlig from entering its premises Monday at the behest of Agbey Askerov, the head of the state-owned publishing house Azerbaijan, which prints the newspaper, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Askerov is demanding immediate repayment of a debt of 15,000 manats (15,000 euros), which he says dates back to 2003. RSF condemned the move, seeing it as a pretext for forcing the country's main... MORE
Presidential Administration guards in Azerbaijan on Tuesday detained photographers covering a demonstration over flood relief measures, according to Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS). IRFS and Turan Information Agency employees Javid Gurbanov and Mehman Huseynov, Radio Liberty correspondent Abbas Atilay and "Bizim Yol" newspaper correspondent Haji Zeynalov were detained by the guards when they were taking pictures and filming a protest being held by Sabirabad region residents... MORE
Azerbaijan’s representative to the European Court of Human Rights, Chingiz Askerov, has said that the reason his government appealed against the court’s April 22 ruling, calling for the release of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, was that it was “contrary to international norms.” Even if the court’s Grand Chamber upholds the original decision, Fatullayev will not be released without a favourable ruling from Azerbaijan’s supreme court, Askerov told BBC. As regards the European Court’s... MORE
Azerbaijan’s representative to the European Court of Human Rights has announced that his government appealed Friday against a ruling issued by the court in April ordering Azerbaijan to free Eynulla Fatullayev, an opposition newspaper editor who has been held since April 20, 2007. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) over what will happen to Fatullayev and regards this announcement as further confirmation of Azerbaijan’s total disregard of the European Court and press freedom. In a ruling... MORE
Azerbaijan’s Garadagh District Court in Baku on Tuesday sentenced imprisoned independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev to two and a half years in a strict-regime prison after finding him guilty of drug possession. Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, has already served more than three years of an eight and a half year term on a series of fabricated charges, including terrorism. Judge Ismail Khalilov announced the verdict against Fatullayev in a court full of... MORE
Azerbaijani authorities illegally confiscated footage and reporting from Norwegian television reporter Erling Borgen and cameraman Dag Inge Dahl on Thursday, according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Borgen, who has his own documentary production company, was working with Dahl on a film about freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, focusing on the case of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. The project is sponsored by the Norwegian Freedom of Expression Fund, Borgen told New York-... MORE
Azerbaijani authorities must comply with the European Court of Human Rights’ decision ordering the immediate release of imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, has been jailed for three years on fabricated charges. The Strasbourg-based European Court has recently ruled that Azerbaijan had violated Fatullayev’s rights to freedom of expression and fair trial, declared his... MORE
Azerbaijani editor Genimet Zakhidov, who served more than half of a four-year term on fabricated “hooliganism” charges, was released from prison on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. “We're relieved Azerbaijani officials released our colleague Genimet Zakhidov, who served 28 long months in prison in retaliation for his critical journalism,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Programme Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “We call on authorities to build on this positive... MORE
A death threat has been made against imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, and his family, according to CPJ. An anonymous male caller telephoned Emin Fatullayev, the editor’s father, at his Baku home at around 12:30 p.m. today and said he and his son must “shut up once and for all” or “the entire family will be destroyed,” the elder Fatullayev told CPJ. He said he immediately reported the threat to police. “We are outraged that... MORE
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