Azerbaijan: Jailed Journalist Seeks Pardon

Facing a fresh charge of tax evasion, jailed Azerbaijani newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev has petitioned Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for a pardon and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights for a ruling on his case.

Fatullayev, editor of the now-closed Realny Azerbaijan and Azeri-language Gùndalik Azarbaycan newspapers, was arrested in April 2007 on charges of slander, and accused of "insulting" the Azerbaijani people. The case began after Realniy Azerbaijan published a statement by an Armenian army officer who said that Armenian forces had kept open an exit corridor for civilians during the 1992 Khojali massacre in Nagorno-Karabakh. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav100505ru.shtml

The most recent charge against the journalist, tax evasion, came on September 4, after questioning of Realny Azerbaijan and Gùndalik Azarbaycan staff by the Ministry of National Security agents. The ministry claims that Fatullayev concealed 242,522 manats (roughly $279,000) from Realny Azerbaijan's income.

The charge is the third against the newspaper editor. In July, the ministry accused Fatullayev of inciting ethnic and religious hatred, and charged him with terrorism.

Fatullayev defense attorney Isakhan Ashurov told EurasiaNet that preliminary investigations into the terrorism and tax evasion charges have now ended, and that the cases are being transferred to the Court on Serious Crimes for consideration. If found guilty, the journalist would face a potential five to eight years in prison on the terrorism charges and six months in prison on the tax evasion charges, Fatullayev's attorneys say.

Fatullayev was sentenced to 30 months in prison in April on the original slander charges. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav052207a.shtml In late August, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan rejected an appeal.

Within the Azerbaijani legal system, a presidential pardon has now become Fatullayev's last option for release from jail.

In a September 9 appeal, the journalist asked for a pardon from President Aliyev "because the criminal proceedings which were instituted against him were unfair and ungrounded," Ashurov told EurasiaNet. The likelihood of Fatullayev receiving that pardon, however, is unknown.

In a September 7 press conference in Baku, the Council of Europe's visiting commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, said that he had discussed the imprisonment of seven Azerbaijani journalists with government officials, but did not receive a clear response about future intended actions. Hammarberg said that he had also asked President Aliyev to issue a pardon for the journalists. President Aliyev's office could not be reached for comment.

In early August, one senior presidential administration official, however, dismissed the contention that "bringing some individuals to trial" constitutes media repression.

"There is no reason for concern," said Ali Hasanov, head of the administration's political policy department, APA news agency reported. "The guarantors of the freedom of speech are the state and the president. In the future, we will take actions to increase state care for the media."

Parliamentarian Vagif Samedoglu, a member of the Council of Europe's Commission on Human Rights, told APA news agency on September 11 that the next presidential pardon decree is not expected before the end of September.

Meanwhile, Fatullayev's attorney is appealing in the international arena. After the Supreme Court bid failed, an appeal was submitted to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on September 10, Ashurov said. The lawyer claims that an "exceptional measure of punishment" was used against Fatullayev by ordering his arrests on grounds of alleged terrorism, while he was already under arrest on the original charges.

The seven journalists in jail currently in Azerbaijan have sparked rising concern from international organizations. All of the reporters are in prison on charges of "defamation" or "incitement." All work for non-government-controlled or pro-opposition media outlets.

On September 6, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement that called on the government to stop the "persecution" of Fatullayev. "Not content with having locked up Eynulla Fatullayev, the Azerbaijani authorities are now attempting to throw away the key by piling up politically motivated criminal charges against him," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

In a June 2007 report to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Permanent Council, Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklñs Haraszti urged that the seven journalists be released and that "persecution of the remaining independent media" stop. The OSCE has also pushed for changes that would make libel, defamation and verbal insults civil rather than criminal code violations. A draft law on the topic has been under consideration in parliament since late 2006.