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Azerbaijan - 2004 Annual Report

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  • Azerbaijan - 2004 Annual Report

    Reporters without borders, France
    May 3 2004

    Azerbaijan - 2004 Annual Report

    Azerbaijan
    Area : 86,600 sq.km.
    Population : 8,096,000
    Language : Azeri
    Type of state : republic
    Head of state : President Ilham Aliev

    Azerbaijan - 2004 Annual Report

    The hoped-for wave of reform after Ilham Aliev, son of longtime leader
    Heidar Aliev, became president in October 2003 did not come. Opposition
    media remained under broad pressure, there was no diversity in
    broadcasting and the regime did not fulfil its international
    commitments.

    President Heidar Aliev's son Ilham took office as president on 31
    October 2003 after an election denounced as a setback for democracy by
    European monitoring organisations. The elder Heidar, who died in a US
    clinic on 12 December aged 80, had prepared for the handover by naming
    Ilham prime minister during the summer. When his father's health
    worsened, Ilham became acting president and on 2 October his father
    withdrew as a candidate for reelection. Media that dared to mention the
    old man's health were punished.
    The election campaign, the vote itself on 15 October and the
    post-election period brought many press freedom problems. Journalists
    were beaten and the government monopolised radio and TV, broadly
    harassed opposition and independent newspapers and failed to keep its
    international promises to respect press freedom. Journalists were
    physically attacked from the summer on while covering election meetings
    in Baku and the provinces and more than 50 were set upon during violent
    clashes on 15 and 16 October between demonstrators and security forces,
    who arrested more than a dozen of them.
    Journalists organisations monitoring the campaign, as well as the
    Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in a report,
    said the four privately-owned nationwide TV stations all strongly
    backed ruling party candidates, as did the state-run AzT, which should
    have been turned into an independently-run public body as promised when
    Azerbaijan joined the Council of Europe in 2001.
    A council was set up on 24 January 2003 to see that radio and TV obeyed
    the electoral law but its nine members were appointed by the president.
    A public TV bill was given a second reading by parliament on 24
    December, but it too would allow the government to have a predominant
    voice.
    The highly-politicised opposition and independent media came under
    broad and heavy direct and indirect pressure from the authorities - in
    access to public data, printing and distribution, advertising,
    unjustified use of defamation laws and excessive fines. Journalists
    demonstrated several times in the first half of the year against
    bureaucratic harassment obstructing them in their work.
    The main opposition daily Yeni Musavat was sued for libel more than a
    dozen times between October 2002 and October 2003 and fined more than
    100,000 euros. The laws on defamation and insults still provided prison
    sentences, in conflict with international standards. A Press Council of
    nine journalists and six government representatives members was set up
    on 15 March to mediate between journalists and citizens, especially the
    authorities.
    Yeni Musavat editor Rauf Arifoglu was jailed in late October, accused
    of organising the 15 and 16 October demonstrations.

    Two journalists imprisoned

    Rauf Arifoglu, editor of the opposition daily Yeni Musavat and
    vice-president of the opposition Musavat party, was arrested on 27
    October 2003 and remanded for three months in Baku's Bailov prison for
    stirring up public unrest (article 220.1 of the criminal code) and for
    refusing to obey a police order (article 315.2). He could be sentenced
    to up to 12 years imprisonment. He was accused of organising the
    rioting that broke out around the country after the 15 October
    presidential election. He staged a hunger-strike in prison from 1 to 9
    December to demand the release of the 107 people arrested in the
    protests and the application of the recommendations of the OSCE
    observers' report on the elections. Deputy prosecutor-general Ramiz
    Rzayev said the gravity of the alleged offences, the possibility he
    would abscond and also interfere with the investigation justified him
    being held pending trial. Arifoglu, one of the regime's fiercest
    critics, had taken refuge in the Norwegian embassy between 18 and 21
    October for fear of being kidnapped or physically attacked.
    Sadig Ismailov, of the opposition daily Baki Khaber, was arrested in
    Baku on 30 December and accused of involvement in the clashes in the
    city after the 15 October election. His editor, Aydin Gouliev, said he
    had been sent to Azadliq Square on 16 October to cover the
    demonstrations. The Nasimi regional court ordered him detained for
    three months in Bailov prison on 31 December while the case was being
    investigated. He was charged under articles 220.1 and 315 of the
    criminal code and faces between three and seven years in jail. There
    was no evidence he was being detained because of his work as a
    journalist.

    At least 37 journalists arrested

    Plainclothes police burst into the premises of the opposition daily
    Milliyet in Baku on 23 April 2003 and arrested journalists Tahir
    Abbasli and Sarkarda Sakharnova. They were freed a few hours later
    after appearing before deputy prosecutor-general Ramiz Rzayev, who gave
    them an "official warning" about a photomontage in the paper five days
    earlier showing the demolition of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's
    statue in Baghdad with President Heidar Aliev's head on it instead of
    Hussein's.
    Police seized 1,800 copies of the Russian-language edition of the
    opposition daily Yeni Musavat on 2 May as they was leaving the
    Viza-Media printers in Baku and arrested journalists Azer Aykhan,
    Firdovsi Akhmedov and Sayyad Gadirli, as well as three staff of the
    printing firm, including its boss, Aliovst Talishkhanly, for publishing
    "anti-government" material. The journalists were freed five hours
    later.
    Police in 10 cars roughly arrested a group of senior journalists on 26
    July as they were driving away from the Baku home of Yeni Musavat
    editor Rauf Arifoglu on the way to the city's press club. They included
    Arifoglu himself, Aflatun Amashev (president) and Gunduz Takhirli
    (member) of the Press Council, Mehman Aliev, head of the Turan
    independent news agency, Arif Aliev, president of the press club and
    head of the Yeni Nesil trade union, Ganimat Zakhidov, managing editor
    of the opposition daily Azadliq, and Yeni Musavat staffers Elkhan
    Hasanli, Safar Hummatov, Mirza Zeynalov and Murshud Hasanov. All were
    freed an hour and a half later. Police said they had violated traffic
    laws and had insulted and hit the police.
    The council of the country's media chiefs and Arifoglu said they had
    heard a few days earlier of plans to arrest him. Just before the police
    swooped, the heads of the main opposition press and media organisations
    had gone to his home to discuss the situation.
    Interior minister Ramil Usubov said on 30 July the episode would be
    investigated and the police responsible punished. But no action had
    been taken by the end of the year.
    Rial Jafarli (Azadliq) and Ali Orujev (Milliyet) were arrested on 21
    September while covering a meeting of two opposition presidential
    candidates, Etibar Mamedov (National Independence Party) and Ali
    Kerimly (Popular Front Party), in Lenkoran (south of Baku). Jafarli was
    freed five hours later but Orujev was charged with "hooliganism" and
    not released until 25 September.
    Ali Ismailov (Milliyet) was beaten and briefly detained by police in
    the village of Sinjanboyag (120 km north of Baku) on 3 October while
    travelling with opposition candidate Issa Gambar.
    Elnur Sadigov (Azadliq) was not allowed in a polling station, beaten by
    police and held by them for three hours in the northern town of Ganja
    on 15 October, the day of the presidential election. Two other
    journalists were arrested - Parviz Hashimov (Uch Nogta news agency),
    held for three hours in Ganja, and Mushfig Mamedli (the daily Baki
    Khaber), who was arrested in Baku.
    The Committee to Protect Journalists of Azerbaijan (RUH) said at least
    16 journalists were arrested on 15 and 16 October while covering the
    election and the next day's protests. Most were freed on 22 October
    after being sentenced to a few days in prison for "disturbing the
    peace" or "refusing to obey orders.
    Azer Qarachenli, of the weekly Avropa, disappeared between 15 to 21
    October. His arrest by masked special police in front of Musavat party
    offices in Baku was filmed by the TV station ANS, but the interior
    ministry denied for several days he had been arrested. He had been
    picked up during anti-regime demonstrations and sentenced to two weeks
    in prison. He said he had not been allowed to contact the paper or see
    a lawyer and had refused to sign a false statement about the
    circumstances of his arrest.
    Sayaf Gadoriv and Teymur Imanov, of Yeni Musavat, were arrested on 17
    October as they left the paper's offices.
    Ilham Akhundov, founder and editor of the weekly Gyrkh Chirag in
    Ali-Bairamly (100 km south of Baku) and a member of the opposition
    Popular Front Party, was arrested at his home in the village of Mes on
    18 October and two days later sentenced to 10 days in prison for
    "hooliganism and using bad language in public."
    Jehyun Askerli, correspondent in Geychay (west of Baku) for Milliyet
    and member of the Popular Front Party, was arrested on 19 October and
    sentenced to 10 days in jail.
    Police arrested Zabil Mugabiloglu, political reporter of the
    pro-government daily 525, at the paper's offices on 20 October and
    taken to the Yasamal district court in Baku, where he was jailed for
    two weeks for disturbing the peace.
    Mustafa Hajibeyli (Yeni Musavat), was arrested on 23 October at his
    parents' home and held for several hours. Interior ministry officials
    searched the apartment and took away a video cassette.

    At least 99 journalists physically attacked

    About 30 men attacked the offices of the opposition daily Yeni Musavat
    on 4 May 2003, insulting journalists, threatening to kill editor Rauf
    Arifoglu and causing a lot of material damage. They demanded an end to
    articles about President Aliev's health and to criticism of the
    government. Assistant managing editor Gabil Abbasoglu, and journalists
    Elshad Pashasoy, Samir Azizoglu and Khalid Kazimli were injured. The
    staff, who had expected such an attack, had asked for police protection
    after government officials had called for the paper to be "punished"
    and the government press had called them "enemies of the country." The
    officials accused the paper of calling for Aliev's resignation because
    of his poor health. Editor Arifoglu said police protection, begun three
    days earlier, had been withdrawn two hours before the attack. Three of
    the attackers were jailed for between three and five days for
    "hooliganism."
    Reporters Shafayat Salah (Turan news agency), Azer Ahmadov and Sahib
    Ismaylov (the opposition daily Azadliq) and Elshad Memedov (the
    opposition daily Khurriyet) were beaten up by police while covering a
    meeting of the Popular Front Party in Baku on 24 May.
    Elshad Pashasoy (Yeni Musavat), Alim Huseynov (the daily Olaylar),
    Ramil Huseynov (the news agency Bilik Dunyasi), Perviz Heshimov (the
    weekly Politika), Rauf Mirkadyrov (the daily Zerkalo), Abbaseli
    Rustemli, Ruslan Beshirov, Ramiz Necefli, Ali Rza (all of Azadliq) and
    Tapdiq Ferhadoglu (Turan) were beaten by police on 27 May while
    covering a meeting of the Popular Front Party in front of the
    parliament building in Baku.
    Parviz Peshmili (Politika) Natig Zeynalov (Radio Free Europe / Radio
    Liberty) and Nijat Daglar and Tahir Tagiyev (both of Khurriyet) were
    beaten and insulted by police during a protest by opposition parties in
    front of parliament on 3 June.
    Mushfig Hajiyev, cameraman with the independent TV station ANS, was
    attacked on 18 July by Lazim Mirzoyev, a government official in the
    village of Karmachatag (in Nakichevan), who tried to seize his camera.
    ANS reporter Natella Mahmudova, Kamala Surkhaygizi (Radio Free Europe /
    Radio Liberty) and Malahat Nasibova (Turan), who were there with
    Hajiyev to report on clashes with the Armenian army, were also set upon
    and chased out of the village. Mirzoyev said he had been ordered to
    keep the journalists away from the village.
    Nasibova, Mahmudova and Hajiyev were beaten and insulted by police and
    government officials in the village of Sadarak (Nakichevan) on 3
    September while seeking information about complaints by inhabitants
    against the behaviour of the local authorities. They were called spies
    and traitors and ordered out of the village.
    A dozen journalists and several members of the Popular Front Party were
    beaten by police, including deputy police chief Yashar Aliev, as they
    gathered in front of Baku police headquarters on 8 September while
    opposition presidential election candidate Fuad Mustafayev was being
    questioned there. Film taken by Internews was seized. Among the
    journalists involved were Khalig Bakhadur (Azadliq), Azer Rashidoglu
    and Metin Yasharoglu (Zerkalo), Hadija Ismailova (the daily Ekho), Rey
    Kerimoglu (the paper Milli Yol), Mirjavad Ragimli (Space TV), Sukhur
    Abdullayev (the daily Bu Gyun), Manaf Guliev (Internews cameraman) and
    Hagani Safaroglu (Avropa). The Committee to Protect Journalists of
    Azerbaijan (RUH) filed a complaint against deputy police chief Aliev on
    4 December.
    Irada Nureddingyzy (the opposition daily Milliyet), Nigyar Almangyzy
    (the daily Express), Samira Zamanly (Khurriyet), Taptig Farhadoglu
    (Turan) and Zaur Rasulzade (of the Russian-language daily Novoye
    Vremya) were clubbed and stoned by police and civilians at a meeting
    held by two opposition presidential candidates that police were trying
    to disperse in Masaly (south of Baku) on 21 September. Zamanly was
    knocked out by one of the stones.
    Thugs beat people attending a meeting on 2 October held by presidential
    candidates Etibar Mamedov and Ali Kerimli in the Saatli region (200 km
    west of Baku) with wooden and metal objects. Among the victims were
    Aflatun Guliev (editor) and Ali Orudjev (reporter) of Milliyet.
    Guliev's nose and several teeth were broken.
    Fierce clashes with security forces erupted on the evening of election
    day, 15 October, as thousands of people demonstrated outside the Baku
    offices of the opposition party Musavat and continued the next day on
    the city's Azadliq Square. The RUH said at least 54 journalists had
    been attacked over the two days. They included :
    Sahil Kerimli (Lider TV), attacked by a crowd in Baku on 15 October ;
    Kenul Salimgizi, Safar Humbatov, Murshud Hasanov and Salim Azizoglu
    (all of Yeni Musavat), roughed up at polling station 25 in Baku and
    Fahraddin Hajibeyli (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty), beaten by
    polling station officials in Agdam (350 km from Baku).
    On 16 October, at least 26 journalists were beaten up by security
    forces in Azadliq Square. They included : Ilkin Guliev, Zafar Guliev
    (who received head injuries) and Emin Huseynov (a brain injury), all of
    Turan ; Alexander Klimchuk (of the Georgian daily Tribuna) ; Sabina
    Iskenderli and Fuad Hasanguliyev (who was hospitalised with head
    inujuries), both of the Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency ; Agil Jamal
    and Hayal Babayev (Azadliq) ; Azer Hasret, secretary-general of the
    journalists' organisation JuHi ; Shirhan Agayev (the daily Prognoz) ;
    Sarkarda Sarkhanoglu, Tebriz Sadayoglu, Nabi Alishev, Adil Huseynov and
    Tahir Aliyaroglu (all of Khurriyet). The last three were hospitalised
    with head injuries ; Kenul Velieva, Metanet Muslimgizi and Nijat
    Daglar, who was hospitalised with serious injuries ; Vasim Mamedov (the
    daily Baki Khaber), hospitalised with head injuries ; Eynulla Umudov
    and Etibar Savalan (the paper Galanjak Gun) ; Elza Abishova
    (hospitalised), Mansura Sattarova, Lala Musa Gizi, Afgan Gafarov and
    Kenan Rovshanoglu (all of the daily Cumhurriyet). The interior ministry
    launched an enquiry into possible police brutality. But the authorities
    said right away that most of the journalists were not covering the
    protests but participating in them as opposition activists.

    Harassment and obstruction

    Several journalists and human rights activists staged a hunger-strike
    from 22 to 28 January 2003 to protest against legalistic harassment of
    the opposition daily Yeni Musavat and draw world attention to press
    freedom violations in the country. Editor Rauf Arifoglu pointed to the
    13 prosecutions of the paper by the authorities in just a few months
    and to the threats made to its journalists. Participants included
    Yadigar Mamedli (president of the Democratic League of Journalists),
    Mehman Aliev (head of the Turan news agency), Ganimat Zakhidov
    (president of the Azad Soz Journalists' Union), Azer Hasret
    (secretary-general of the Azerbaijan Journalists' Confederation), Zahid
    Gazanfaroglu (Yeni Musavat), Zohrab Ismayil (publisher of the
    opposition daily Azadliq), Asif Marazli (editor of the weekly
    Tazadlar), Mohammed Arsoy (member of the Azad Soz Journalists' Union)
    and Sanan Hasanoglu (editor of the diaspora magazine Compatriot).
    Baku city authorities shut down on 28 January a newsstand run by the
    Gaya distribution firm in front of the university which sold opposition
    papers unavailable at the government newsstands. They said it was for
    reasons of "urban improvement," but a nearby state newsstand remained
    in place.
    A court in Yasamal (Baku) fined Elmar Husseynov, founder and editor of
    the weekly Monitor, 4,600 euros on 4 April (under articles 147.2 and
    148 of the criminal code) for libelling and insulting the honour and
    dignity of Hasan Zeynalov, head of the Baku office of the autonomous
    republic of Nakhichevan, in an article called "The Godfather" (in its
    second issue of 2003) which compared the inhabitants of the republic
    with Sicilians. Zeynalov also sued in a civil court, which awarded him
    19,000 euros in damages on 25 February and ordered a denial to be
    published. The editor was amnestied on 12 May for the criminal
    conviction.
    The independent weekly Bizim Yol was extensively harassed after it was
    founded in March. Police seized copies on 20 April from four vendors in
    Nizami (Baku) who were taken to a police station and questioned before
    being freed. Editor Mohammed Arsoy said the seizure was because the
    previous number contained a cartoon of President Aliev astride a donkey
    with his son Ilham holding its tail. More copies were confiscated in
    Baku the next day. All printers refused to print the paper on 11 May,
    on the orders of the authorities. On 17 May, three unidentified men
    stopped a van carrying 4,000 copies, threatened and insulted the driver
    and took away all the papers. The magazine was forced to close after
    six issues, but its journalists launched a new paper, Milli Yol, in
    June. Its offices were vandalised on 10 August and computer equipment
    damaged. In September and October, assistant editor Shahin Agabeyli was
    summoned and reprimanded several times by the deputy prosecutor-general
    for printing cartoons of government ministers. Presidential candidate
    and member of parliament Gudrat Hasanguliyev threatened its journalists
    in early October with reprisals if the paper continued to insult him.
    The independent printers Chap Evi refused to print the paper from 15
    October.
    The head of Baku's metro railway system, Tagi Ahmedov, said on 21 April
    that the quarterly newspaper distribution agreements with the firms
    Said and Mars-3 would only be renewed if they stopped handling
    opposition papers such as Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Khurriyet and
    Milliyet. He said they printed inaccurate news about President Aliev's
    health. The firms refused to comply and in mid-May, distribution
    resumed as normal.
    The prosecutor-general's office accused opposition papers Yeni Musavat,
    Khurriyet, Azadliq and Milliyet on 6 May of breaking the media laws by
    printing reports about President Aliev that violated journalistic
    ethics.
    The president's brother Jalal told parliament on 13 May, after stories
    appeared about the president's health, that journalists who criticised
    the head of state should be stripped of their accreditation to cover
    parlialment.
    At least 25 newspaper street-vendors were arrested in Baku on 16 and 17
    May and thousands of copies of Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Milliyet and
    Monitor seized on the orders of city police chief Maharram Aliev.
    A Baku court sentenced Yashar Agazade (reporter) and Rovshan Kebirli
    (publisher) of the weekly Mukhalifat to five months in prison on 21 May
    for libelling President Aliev's brother Jalal in a 14 April article
    saying he headed a gang that monopolised the country's grain market.
    They were both pardoned immediately.
    Columnist Rauf Mirkadyrov, of the Russian-language daily Zerkalo, was
    fined 82,500 manats (15 euros) on 7 July for being drunk and trying to
    hit Baku mayor Hajikala Abutalibov. The journalist said he had simply
    asked the mayor who was in charge of work done on a city building and
    had then been set upon by police.
    Justice minister Fikret Mamadov accused the media on 26 July of trying
    to destabilise the country before the 15 October presidential election
    and said he would act against those that defied the ban on undermining
    the president's "honour and dignity." The warning was repeated the same
    day by prosecutor-general Zakir Garalov. The day before, interior
    minister Ramil Usubov had accused opposition media of printing
    libellous and insulting material. A few days earlier, Yeni Musavat and
    other opposition papers had written about the illness of the president,
    who was hospitalised in Turkey on 8 July.
    Elnur Sadigov, a correspondent for Azadliq, said on 27 August he had
    been expelled from the state university in the northwestern town of
    Ganja, where he was a student, because he had been detained for a week
    in May for writing critical articles.
    On the day of the 15 October presidential election, three journalists
    were barred from polling stations - Firudin Guliyev (Garbin Sesi) by
    police in Shemakha (120 km from Baku), Vidadi Bayramov (Khurriyet), who
    was insulted in Salyan (140 km from Baku), and Abbasali Rustamli
    (Azadliq) in Sabail (Baku).
    The same day, seven journalists were insulted by polling officials.
    They were Aslan Abdullayev (Molla Nasreddin), by the polling station
    chief in Ujar (200 km from Baku) ; Matanat Alieva (Impuls), at station
    22 in Nasimi (Baku) ; Eynulla Garayev (Fedai), in Ujar ; Medina Aliyev
    (freelance), at station 38 in Baku ; Tahir Pasha (head of the
    Association of Military Journalists) and Mubariz Jafarli and Mahir
    Mamedli (both of Yeni Musavat), at station 15 in Sabail (Baku).
    During the week after protest demonstrations on 15 and 16 October,
    journalists from opposition papers Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Khurriyet,
    Baki Khaber and Yeni Zaman/Novoye Vremya were barred from parliament.
    Tens of thousands of copies of Yeni Musavat, Azadliq, Khurriyet and
    Baki Khaber were seized from newsstands in Baku and in the provinces on
    17 and 18 October.
    Two days after the election, on 17 October, the state printers refused
    to print Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Baki Khaber, Khurriyet and Yeni
    Zaman/Novoye Vremya. Yeni Musavat business manager Azer Ahyan said the
    firm said its workers had refused to handle the papers because they
    were pro-opposition and that anyway the newspapers owed too much money.
    However, the firm continued to print other (pro-government) papers also
    in debt to the firm.
    The five opposition papers failed to appear between 14 and 20 November
    when Chap Evi, the only privately-owned printers that agreed to print
    them, ran out of paper. The editors accused the authorities of creating
    an artificial newsprint shortage by doubling the price of it.
    Tax inspectors turned up unannounced at the offices of Milliyet on 22
    October and seized four computers, as well as photos and
    tape-recordings. They filmed the premises and said they were looking
    for firearms. The computers were returned two days later.
    Member of parliament Omaliya Panakhova told a press conference on 27
    October that journalists who criticised the government "should be
    killed."
    A close aide of the prosecutor-general warned Turan editor Mehman Aliev
    on 28 October for reporting that elections board members who refused to
    sign false voting tallies had come under official pressure.

    Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press
    freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public
    and to be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal
    Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Without Borders has nine
    national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
    Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in
    Abidjan, Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and
    Washington and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.


    http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9961

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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