His Excellency Heydar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
Baku
Azerbaijan
Fax: +994 12 92 06 25
Vienna, 24 September 2001
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns recent attempts by the Azerbaijani government to intimidate and harass journalists and its bid to silence the independent Milletin Sesi newspaper.
According to our sources, three employees of the Milletin Sesi have recently faced criminal actions brought by the Azerbaijan authorities. On 17 September 2001, the Narimanov District Court handed down a six-month prison sentence to editor-in-chief Shahbaz Khuduoglu and a three-month suspended sentence to journalist Gulnaz Qamberli for criminal defamation. In addition, there are planned criminal investigation hearings against editor Eynulla Fatullayev.
The charges against Khuduoglu and Qamberli and the investigation against Fatullayev arise from an article in the Milletin Sesi entitled, “The Leisurely Adventures of Ramiz Mehdiyev”. Published on 26 August, the article stated that the head of Azerbaijan’s presidential administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, had been seen at a party, which, according to the official news agency, “would certainly damage the image of such a high-ranking civil servant”. Mehdiyev was allegedly shielded from the eyes of the public, including reporters, by members of the country’s military, who also attempted to confiscate the camera of the Milletin Sesi crew.
On 16 September, in a seemingly unrelated case, the Milletin Sesi, was closed by the Narimanov District Court as the result of charges brought by two civil servants who alleged they had been insulted. The charges arose from an article in the newspaper alleging that the two civil servants had been involved in corruption.
With regard to the fairness of the hearings, there were a number of irregularities which have concerned IPI. In the case involving Mehdiyev, the court failed to take into account efforts by staff writers to contact Mehdiyev, prior to publication, in order for him to confirm or deny the information contained in the article. The Milletin Ses said that if Mehdiyev had denied the story it would not have been printed; however, employees with the presidential administration refused to talk to journalists from the newspaper.
Further judicial irregularities included preliminary hearings held in the absence of a judge and a failure to provide Khuduoglu with legal representation. Khuduoglu had asked to be represented by the head of a law firm, Tofiq Quliyev, who had represented him in an earlier case, but this time Quliyev was not accepted by the court because he is not a member of the bar. A second legal representative, Ali Jafarov, was dismissed by the judge without explanation. The extra time needed for Khuduoglu to find another lawyer was not provided by the court. In a disturbing contrast that revealed how differently the parties in the case have been treated, the lawyer of Mehdiyev was accepted immediately by Justice Abayev. Off the record, Justice Abayevhas allegedly admitted that he had been instructed by Mehdiyev to convict Khuduoglu.
IPI regards the incarceration of journalists, the suspension of media outlets and the use of criminal defamation laws as gross violations of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We therefore urge Your Excellency to ensure that Khuduoglu is released immediately and unconditionally, that the sentence against Qamberli is overturned and that the charges against Fatullayev are dropped. In addition, we further urge you to ensure that Milletin Sesi is allowed to resume publishing and that Azerbaijan’s journalists are allowed to carry out their profession without further harassment.
We thank you for your attention.
Best regards,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
