Rovshan Kebirli and Yashar Agazadeh, Chief Editor and his deputy of Muxalifet Newspaper, are sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment of the basis of articles 147.1 and 147.2 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code. The case stemmed from the article “AMAY is the trademark of the Aliyev family,” published on 24 February 2007. (17-MAY-07)
Written by Shahla Ismailova/HRH Baku on the basis of materials from Turan News Agency, IRFS, OSCE; Photos by Yeni Musavat newspaper, IRFS
In the article Jalal Aliyev, current president’s uncle, was referred as the leader of corruption during the time of Heydar Aliyev.
At the beginning of hearing, which was chaired by Melahet Abdulmanafova, Kebirli made his final statement. Kebirli noted that Agazadeh wrote his article citing an article published in the 10 April 2006 edition of “Bu Gun” Turkish newspaper. According to Kebirli this type of article is not something that should have compelled Parliamentarian Jalal Aliyev to institute a criminal case. And, the chief editor said, concerning associating AMAY Company with Jalel Aliyev, almost 100 newspapers have done this, but only Muxalifet Newspaper has been taken to court for it.
Agazadeh emphasized that the article he wrote expressed ideas that belonged to Turkish journalist Nuh Gonultash. He introduced evidence regarding this; however the court did not take this into consideration. Agazadeh asked the court not to fulfill Aliyev’s lawsuit.
Both of the journalists have assessed their prison sentences as unjust and committed at the order of the government. The journalists’ defense lawyer Rashid Hajli noted that the lawsuit brought against the journalists and the verdict on the case are in contradiction with the European Convention on Human Rights.
OSCE
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, said he was shocked to hear the news about the imprisonment of two more Azerbaijani journalists for libel. “Azerbaijan’s relentless persecution of journalists annihilates the security of journalism, a major OSCE commitment…I regret to see that Azerbaijan has failed to move towards international standards, even despite the 2005 Presidential call to politicians for self-restraint. It seems that call was in vigor for only one year. I hope authorities will realize that the only way forward is to ban criminal defamation provisions.”
CPJ
Executive Director of CPJ, Joel Simon said “The conviction of Rovshan Kebirli and Yashar Agazadeh is a part of a pattern of shamelessly using criminal defamation statutes to silence critical reporting in Azerbaijan…We call on Azerbaijani authorities to repeal criminal libel laws and stop jailing journalists.”
IRFS
IRFS calls for the government of Azerbaijan to release all journalists that have been imprisoned for political reasons: Rovshan Kebirli, Yashar Agazadeh, Eynulla Fatullayev, Sakit Zahidov, Samir Sadagetoglu, Rafik Tagi and Faramaz Allahverdiyev; to decriminalize libel and defamation and to find and punish all of those responsible for attacks on journalists.
