The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, expresses its disappointment at the Azeri Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the conviction of newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev.

According to information before IPI, on 3 June 2008, the Azeri Supreme Court upheld the eight and a half year sentence imposed on Fatullayev, editor-in-chief of the Azeri language daily Gundalik Azerbayjan and the Russian language weekly Realny Azerbayjan, on 30 October 2007. Fatullayev had been found guilty of charges relating to terrorism and inciting national, religious or ethnic hatred, following an article that appeared in the Realny Azerbayjan in March 2007 titled “The Aliyev’s Go to War”. In the article, Fatullayev criticised his government’s support for a United Nations Security Council Resolution that tightened sanctions on Iran, claiming that such support would not be overlooked by Iran in the event of war.

Fatullayev’s critical stance towards the Azeri government has long caused him difficulties with the authorities. At the time of his conviction, Fatullayev was in the process of serving an 18 month sentence for criminal defamation handed down in April 2007 in relation to an Internet article that he denies having written. In September 2006, Fatullayev had been given a two-year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay US$11,500 in damages to Azeri interior minister Ramil Usubov, following articles he had written concerning the latter’s financial links with a man believed to have killed another Azeri journalist, Elmar Huseynov.

The eight and half year sentence handed down to Fatullayev is the longest prison sentence ever handed down to a journalist in the history of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On 27 May, only one week before the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Fatullayev’s conviction, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reiterated both its concern at the restrictions on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, as well as its demand for the release of Fatullayev. As no further recourse exists in the Azeri justice system, Fatullayev will be appealing his conviction to the European Court of Human Rights. Meanwhile, neither the Gundalik Azerbayjan nor the Realny Azerbayjan is currently in circulation.

“IPI is deeply disappointed that Fatullayev was unable to obtain justice within the Azeri justice system,” said IPI Director, David Dadge. “We fully support Fatullayev’s application to the European Court of Human Rights, and hope that a favourable decision will force the Azeri authorities to meet the standards required of a modern democracy.”