Two years after the contract-style assassination of Azerbaijaini opposition editor Elmar Huseynov, his murderers remain at large. When Huseynov, an editor and founder of the newsweekly Monitor, was gunned down in his Baku apartment building on March 2, 2005, President Ilham Aliyev called the murder a “provocation against the Azerbaijani state†and an “act of terrorism.†But despite these strong terms, investigators have made no arrests and reported no progress in the case.
“After two years, Elmar Huseynov’s killers are still at large,†said Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon. “Failure to bring them to justice is fueling widespread self-censorship among independent and opposition journalists.â€
A month after the killing, officials identified two Georgian citizens as suspects but never provided enough evidence to persuade Georgia to extradite them. Without a follow-up, the trail grew cold. Last July, a former Azerbaijani Interior Ministry officer, detained and tried on different charges, confessed to abetting in Huseynov’s assassination.
Huseynov’s colleagues remain skeptical about this allegation, citing the abruptness of the revelation and pressure on inmates in Azerbaijani prisons, that can force “anyone to confess to anything,†explained Shahla Ismailova of the Baku-based Human Rights House. It was unclear if authorities were going to follow up on the reported confession.
Huseynov, 38, was gunned down on March 2, 2005 while walking up the stairwell of his apartment building on his way home from work. Seven bullets pierced his body, and he died on the spot. The attack appeared to be well-planned. A light at the entrance was damaged and several telephones in the area were disconnected at the time of the shooting. Prior to his murder, Huseynov had complained of multiple threats and was concerned about his safety.
Huseynov was a hydroelectric engineer before turning to journalism in 1995. Three years later, he started up a publishing house in Baku and founded three newspapers, Bakinski Bulvar, Bakiskie Vedomosti and Monitor, which quickly established a good reputation. Monitor had been sharply critical of the government and President Ilham Aliyev. The weekly had been forced to pay damages in several defamation lawsuits filed by public officials, and it was forced to close twice in five years.
Monitor had long angered officials with its hard-hitting commentaries. The magazine has been targeted with several lawsuits in retaliation for its critical reporting, and journalists working for the publication have faced a steady stream of harassment from government officials.
Huseynov’s magazine had been critical of Azerbaijani authorities, particularly President Aliyev. The magazine had on several occasions been closed or fined by courts. His murder came amid a government crackdown on the media and the opposition that followed the presidential polls of October 2003 when Aliyev succeeded his father.
According to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), in December 2004 Huseinov spoke about the lawsuits targeting Monitor, accusing authorities of harassing it for political purposes. “I seriously protested, because this is illegal,†he said. “This is unambiguously a political order, because two days prior [to that], parliamentary speaker Murtuz Aleskerov in a speech asked the government to express its relation to Monitor magazine and to take serious measures against it. Two days later, court bailiffs are seeking to deny us any profits. And this is simply a political action. What they want is to bankrupt Monitor.â€
