ARCHIVES: Azerbaijan
A new criminal charge has been filed against imprisoned Azerbaijani editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award. Based on Fatullayev’s account and the government’s long record of persecuting the editor, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) believes the charge to be fabricated. On Tuesday, guards at Prison Colony No 12 in Baku claimed to have searched Fatullayev’s cell and discovered 0.22 grams of heroin in a jacket, according to... MORE
Prison sentences were awarded Wednesday to two Azerbaijani video bloggers detained in July on fabricated charges of “hooliganism” and “inflicting minor bodily harm,” the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Judge Araz Huseynov with the Sabail District Court in Baku handed Emin Milli, 30, who runs an online video blog known as ANTV, a two and a half year jail term, and Adnan Hajizade, 26, a video blogger and coordinator of the Azerbaijani youth movement Ol!, a two-... MORE
Prison sentences were given to journalists at the Azeri weekly newspaper Nota on defamation charges Thursday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Nota Editor-in-Chief Sardar Alibeili and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu (also known as Faramaz Allahverdiyev) were given three-month prison terms, and staffer Ramiz Tagiyev was conditionally sentenced to six months of “corrective labour,” according to press reports and CPJ sources. On Thursday, the Baku Court of... MORE
The Supreme Court in Azerbaijan has upheld the decision of the Sabail District Court regarding the confiscation and destruction of the manuscript of a book that imprisoned Azadlig newspaper editor-in-chief Ganimat Zahid was writing, reported Zahid's spouse, Ayanda Mursaliyeva, who visited him in prison on August 31, the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has reported. According to Mursaliyeva, the Supreme Court recently sent Zahid a copy of the verdict upholding the decision of... MORE
The editor of a now-defunct Azerbaijani newspaper, in state custody since February 2007, has died in a Baku prison hospital, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. According to Azerbaijani Penitentiary Service spokesman Mekhman Sadygov, Novruzali Mamedov, editor of the now-defunct minority newspaper Talyshi Sado , appeared Tuesday to have suffered a stroke. Results from an official autopsy have not yet been released, the Azeri Press Agency reported. "We are deeply disturbed by... MORE
A Baku court has rejected a request for the release of Mushfig Huseynov, a reporter with the daily Bizim Yol , who has had serious health problems since he was jailed in January 2008 for allegedly taking a bribe. “Huseynov’s state of health is grounds for immediate release,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “The law requires it. Prison conditions in Azerbaijan are appalling and do not allow detainees in a poor health to receive adequate medical attention. The judicial... MORE
A district court judge in Baku has sentenced Nazim Guliyev, an editor and the founder of the pro-government newspaper Ideal , to six months in prison on defamation charges, the Azeri Press Agency (APA) reported. Guliyev was jailed immediately. Judge Elman Akhmedov imposed the sentence on Wednesday, although the accuser, Sabira Makhmudova, said she wanted to withdraw her complaint, APA reported. Guliyev's defence is preparing an appeal, Emin Huseynov, head of the Baku-based Institute for... MORE
Following Thursday's release of independent journalists Sakit Zakhidov and Asif Marzili in Azerbaijan, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Azerbaijani authorities to free the remaining journalists serving jail terms on trumped-up criminal charges. Zakhidov, a prominent satirist and commentator for the pro-opposition daily Azadlyg in Baku, was released early Thuesady morning under the Pardon Act passed by parliament in March, the Baku-based news agency Trend reported. Zakhidov... MORE
A district court in Baku has sentenced Asif Marzili, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Tezadlar , to one year in prison on charges of defaming managers and professors of Azerbaijan International University, the Azeri Press Agency reported. Ruling on Tuesday, the court also handed down a six-month suspended corrective labor sentence to Tezadlar freelancer Zumrud Mammedova in the same case. In an unusual development, presidential spokesman Ali Hasanov told local journalists Wednesday that... MORE
Faramaz Novruzoglu (Allahverdiyev), editor and head consultant for Nota newspaper, has received anonymous death threats. The IRFS Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety (IRFS) informed by Novruzoglu that unknown individuals called him and threatened him and his family members. Novruzoglu believes that these calls are related to his recent series of articles about the Antiterrorism Centre of the Ministry of National Security (NSM), published in "Nota". People calling Novruzoglu from both... MORE
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