The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, condemns the murder of Elmar Huseynov, the founder and editor of the Russian-language independent weekly news magazine Monitor.

The journalist was killed on the evening of 2 March in the stairwell of his apartment building. The unidentified assassin escaped. According to the news agency Turan, the pro-government press did not report the killing in the beginning, unlike independent media.

Monitor is a staunch critic of the Azerbaijani leadership, and has been under pressure from the authorities for several years. Huseynov’s family said the editor had received several threats and was concerned about his safety. The magazine and its editor have faced numerous libel and defamation suits, Monitor’s office has been raided by tax inspectors, and Huseynov has experienced severe difficulties with printing the magazine. Huseynov’s family and colleagues believe that his murder is connected to his work.

Most recently, on 18 January, a Baku district court ordered Huseynov to pay the equivalent of 15,000 euros for libel or face criminal charges. Akper Hasanov, a journalist with the magazine, was detained by soldiers at Baku military headquarters on 2 February for five hours after he had reported on abuses and mismanagement in an Azerbaijani military unit, and forced him to confirm in writing that the article entitled “If war breaks out tomorrow”, published in Monitor on 29 January, was written by Huseynov.

According to reports, President Ilham Aliyev, addressing a session of the National Security Council on 3 March, condemned the killing as an attempt to tarnish Azerbaijan’s image in the run-up to parliamentary elections this autumn, and he called for police to find the killer as soon as possible.

IPI Director Johann Fritz expressed his concern about the state of press freedom in Azerbaijan. “There has been no improvement with respect to freedom of the media,” he said. “IPI is very concerned about the fate of independent journalism in the country, and hopes that President Ilham Aliyev will set up an independent enquiry and do everything in his power to solve this crime.”

“The numerous attacks on independent media, whose number did not decrease since the October 2003 election, send a disturbing message about respect for human rights in Azerbaijan.”