Epress.am News from Armenia
Eynulla Fatullayev, the outspoken journalist behind bars in Azerbaijan, remains on the hunger strike he began on Oct. 19. He is protesting the Azerbaijani authorities’ failure to honour the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, which found that the Azerbaijani government had violated Fatullayev’s rights to freedom of expression and fair trial, declared his imprisonment illegal, and ordered that Fatullayev be freed and be paid £25,000 in compensation. The government challenged the judgment, taking an appeal to the court’s Grand Chamber, but the verdict was upheld two weeks ago, writes freelance journalist Vugar Goyajev in Index on Censorship, “Britain’s leading organization promoting freedom of expression.”
Prior to his arrest in April 2007, Fatullayev — an investigative journalist and staunch critic of the Azerbaijani government — was the chief-editor of two of the country’s most outspoken and popular newspapers, Realniy Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan. He is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for defamation, terrorism and tax evasion offences. Both of his newspapers were effectively closed in May 2007.
In a letter addressed to the international community last week, Fatullayev said, “I am on open-ended hunger strike to demand my immediate release from jail, as I do not see any other ways to protect my rights”. Expressing solidarity with Fatullayev, a group of opposition journalists have also gone on hunger strikes, urging the ECHR verdict be implemented.
International rights groups call the charges against Fatullayev fabricated and politically motivated. Last week, 11 international human rights and media watchdogs — including Index on Censorship — issued a joint media report on Azerbaijan and also sent an open letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev demanding the immediate release of Fatullayev. The report highlighted the state’s failure to honour its international obligations to promote and protect freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.
“The actions taken by the Azerbaijani authorities to restrict freedom of expression have significantly damaged Azerbaijan’s international reputation, placing it firmly in the camp of ‘worst offenders’,” the report said.
The authorities effectively use criminal libel and defamation charges to obstruct investigative journalism, prevent public debate and stifle open criticism of the government. Alongside Fatullayev, there are two young bloggers who remain behind bars on dubious charges. Last week Azerbaijan was ranked 146th out of 175 countries in Reporters Sans Frontieres’ latest Press Freedom Index.
Photo from humanrightshouse.org courtesy of rferl.org.