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press releases & Protests
October 16, 2006
His Excellency Ilham Aliyev
President
Republic of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat St.
370066 Baku
Azerbaijan
Your Excellency:
On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee —an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from six continents— I wish to express my profound concern about the on-going campaign of judicial harassment and intimidation against your country’s news media.
The unjust persecution of Shakhin Aghabeyli, editor-in-chief of the Milli Yol magazine, constitute a good example of this outrageous media harassment. Mr. Aghabeyli is in prison completing a one-year sentence for alleged defamation of Parliamentarian Arif Ragimzade. The sentence resulted from an article published by Milli Yol accusing Mr. Ragimzade of corruption.
Mr. Aghabeyli was also accused of defamation after his magazine linked Interior Minister Ramil Usubov with a subordinate who is standing trial for murder and kidnapping. The charges against Mr. Aghabeyli were eventually dropped once he apologized to Mr. Usubov after one week of imprisonment and interrogation.
Tomorrow, Oct. 17, an appeals court will review the case of Mr. Aghabeyli, who will try once again to show the judges he is the victim of a campaign of harassment and judicial censorship to silence him and his publication.
But he is not the only victim of this harassment. Eynulla Fatuyalev, editor-in-chief of the Realny Azerbaijan newspaper, was also hit with a libel and insult suit by Mr. Usubonov, after the publication featured a series of articles also accusing him of having ties with the same subordinate standing trial for murder and kidnapping. Mr. Fatuyalev was sentenced to prison and to pay heavy fines but has vowed to appeal the decision.
Other victims of this judicial harassment include Sakit Zakhidov, reporter for the opposition newspaper Azadlyg, and Fikret Faramazoglu, editor-in-chief of newspaper 24 Saat. All of them are seeing their fundamental right to inform their readers violated by a storm of lawsuits mostly based on the most effective arsenal of censoring laws at the disposal of Azeri public officials, those of defamation and insult.
Insult laws in particular are the sad legacy of autocratic regimes and have their origin in the Roman Empire, which instituted them to shield the emperor from public criticism. Criminal defamation laws also act as a Damocles sward dangling over the collective heads of the news media, forcing them to fulfill their duties to keep the public informed at the risk of being imprisoned.
International judicial entities such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have ruled that these laws are in direct violation of the fundamental right to free speech and to a free press, which are consecrated in the Azeri Constitution.
These institutions also have abundant jurisprudence that supports the concept that public officials should expect more, and not less, scrutiny and criticism from the rest of society. This acceptance of being a willing target of the media’s slings and arrows also implies public officials should restrain from using these laws in order to silence criticism directed at them.
The current campaign of judicial harassment against the Azeri media is in direct contradiction to these principles, whose respect is essential for the functioning of a democratic society. Therefore, Mr. President, I urge you and your government —as other press freedom groups have recently done, including the Committee to Protect Journalists— and your government to take the necessary measures to stop at once these efforts to silence the news media in your country.
Respectfully,
E. Markham Bench
Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee
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