His Excellency Heydar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
Baku
Azerbaijan

Vienna, 5 June 2000

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) is most concerned about the recent police attack on two journalists working for the Baku daily newspaper, “Bu gun”, and the raid on that newspaper’s editorial office.

We are informed that reporter Revan Chinghizoglu and photographer Eldeniz Bedelsoy were sent on 27 May to investigate clashes between police of the 28th Police Section, Yasamal District, and high school students who were celebrating their graduation.When the two journalists arrived at the scene, they were immediately harassed by police officers, who physically attacked Chinghizoglu and tried to take Bedelsoy’s camera. Chinghizoglu suffered light concussion and several minor injuries. Bedelsoy, who managed to escape with his camera, was chased to the editorial offices of “Bu gun” by approximately 20 policemen. According to the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Nesib Ismayilov, the police forced their way into the editorial offices and verbally and physically abused members of the paper’s staff. Bedelsoy was taken to the 28th Police Section station, where he was held without charge for over two hours.

This is the second incident within a month in which police officers in Baku have attacked local journalists. According to the Journalists’ Trade Union (JuHI), 17 journalists were beaten by police on 29 April while covering an opposition rally in the capital.

IPI, the global network of editors and media executives, is deeply concerned about these flagrant abuses of authority by the Azeri police. We urge Your Excellency to ensure a thorough investigation into the incident and that the attackers are brought to justice. We further urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that journalists in Azerbaijan are allowed to exercise their profession without fear of further harassment.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director