EurasiaNet Civil Society - Doubts Surround Investigation into Azerbaijani Journalist’s Death

CIVIL SOCIETY

DOUBTS SURROUND INVESTIGATION INTO AZERBAIJANI JOURNALIST’S DEATH
Khadija Ismayilova 3/23/05

Tension is rising in Azerbaijan over the investigation into the early March murder of a leading independent journalist. Opposition supporters now express doubt that government investigators will ever crack the case.

The official investigation into the death Elmar Huseinov, who was editor of Monitor magazine, has so far proven a start-and-stop operation. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Sources in the General Prosecutor’s office state that investigators now possess video images from a subway station and various shops that depict three individuals shadowing Huseinov on the day of his March 2 murder. A composite sketch of an individual who was reportedly repeatedly trying to meet with the Monitor editor has also been distributed to media outlets.

Nonetheless, the Public Investigation Group (PIG), a watchdog organization made up of former police officers, lawyers and media professionals, argues that investigators are being selective in their scrutiny of potential suspects. Among the more serious missteps cited by PIG member Alevsat Aliyev are investigators’ failure to speak with government officials and members of parliament who are known to have threatened Huseinov for stories published in the Monitor.

Investigation coordinator Eldar Majidov, an employee of the General Prosecutor’s Office’s department of serious crimes, however, told the news agency Turan that police are considering all possible motivations for Huseinov’s murder.

But a high-profile investigation into a series of kidnappings and murders organized by Azerbaijani police officers may prove a distraction. State prosecutors claim that Interior Ministry Criminal Investigations Head Lieutenant-Colonel Haji Mammadov headed the group, which was allegedly responsible for the 2004 murder of Azerbaijan Football Federations Association Vice President Fatulla Huseinov, the 2002 killing of General Prosecutor’s Department of Serious Crimes Deputy Chairman Royshan Aliyev, and the 2000 death of Azer Ismayilov, head of the Interior Ministry’s drug addiction prevention program, among others. Police made the March 10 arrest of Mammadov and 11 other individuals, including several Interior Ministry employees, following an investigation into the February 10 kidnapping of Zamira Hajiyeva, wife of the chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan.

So far, though, the arrests have done little to dispel opposition doubts about the course of the Huseinov investigation – or to dispel suspicion that the government was somehow involved in the 32-year-old editor’s death. Many opposition members put greater hope in the efforts of investigators from Turkey and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. While the FBI has concluded its work in Baku for now, Turkish investigators remain, interviewing friends and relatives of the late editor, and examining past Monitor articles.

Particular criticism has been leveled at law enforcement officials’ failure to identify those individuals allegedly following Huseinov. Nor have investigators yet determined which gun was used in the murder. "There are not unsolvable cases, but bad investigators," said Shahbaz Khuduoglu, a member of the Public Investigation Group and a close friend of Huseynov. Majidov has stated that the examination of evidence collected from the crime scene has yet to be completed.

Meanwhile, the lack of a breakthrough is promising to reap political consequences for Azerbaijan– both domestically and internationally.

The opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, Democrat Party and Musavat Party, which have already formed an election bloc for the November 2005 parliamentary vote, plan to hold protests to demand that Huseinov’s murderer be found. Popular Front Party leader Ali Kerimli has characterized Huseinov’s assassination as an act of political terror. "The law enforcement bodies are totally corrupt and they are supported by the president," Kerimli declared at Huseinov’s March 4 funeral ceremony. "None of the policemen who have used brute force against journalists have been charged yet. They enjoy impunity and we are going to stop this."

Authorities appear to recognize the case’s political implications for President Ilham Aliyev’s administration. The investigation is now headed by a police officer, Tahir Kazimov, who formerly mostly handled political cases, such as the incarceration of opposition leaders following the October 2003 presidential elections. Former investigation chief, Eldar Ahmadov, has been reassigned to the police kidnapping scandal.

But one independent political analyst believes that these personnel changes will have little effect. "Both Elmar Huseinov’s assassination and the case of the kidnapper police officers showed how criminalized the state agencies are," said Eldar Namazov.

Government representatives have stated that attempts to politicize Huseinov’s murder are unacceptable, but, soon, another source of pressure may be brought to bear. Azerbaijan’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is reportedly expecting to face criticism at the body’s current spring session as a result of Huseinov’s murder. In an apparent bid to soften the expected criticism, Samed Seyidov, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, called on parliament and government officials to expedite the establishment of Azerbaijan’s public television system, a longstanding bone of contention with the Council of Europe. On March 15 parliament approved the public television system’s board of directors, made up of pro-government representatives from the media, academia, non-governmental organizations and trade unions.

But opposition members say that they do not expect the move to heighten support for Azerbaijan in the spring session. "They lost most of their partners in PACE after the events in Georgia and Ukraine [the 2003 Rose Revolution and 2004 Orange Revolution that brought pro-reform Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili and President Viktor Yushenko to power in Georgia and Ukraine, respectively], " said Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan Deputy Chairperson Fuad Mustafayev. "Europe is not tolerant of [such] violations any more."

While the government and opposition initially managed to maintain some form of constructive dialogue about Huseinov’s death, their exchanges have become increasingly aggressive. One opposition member, Ruslan Bashirli, head of the youth union "Yeni Fikir," was taken to a Baku police station for what police have termed "a prophylactic conversation" after he protested the farewell speech made by Ali Hasanov, head of the presidential administration’s socio-political department, at Huseinov’s funeral.

Meanwhile, the Huseinov murder investigation continues to be front-page news in Azerbaijan. The editor’s colleagues and family members have established a foundation in his name, while the Press Council has applied – so far, unsuccessfully -- to the government to commemorate Huseinov in some fashion.

Editor’s Note: Khadija Ismayilova is a freelance journalist based in Baku.

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