On 12 March 2008 the U.S. State Department unveiled its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The section devoted to Azerbaijan is quite sizeable, and includes extensive documentation of press freedom violations that occurred in 2007, as well progress on the investigations into events even prior to 2007, like the 2005 murder of “Monitor” Journal Chief Editor Elmar Huseynov.
(20-MAR-08)
Placed on website by Shahla Ismayilova /HRH Azerbaijan on the basis of materials from IRFS
According to the State Department, “the media freedom environment significantly deteriorated during the year.” The State Department wrote that while “the law provides for freedom of speech and of the press and specifically prohibits press censorship; the government often did not respect these rights in practice.”
The report then goes on to briefly cite many of the incidents in this area that occurred in 2007, for example the arrest of “Gundalik Azerbayjan” and “Realny Azerbayjan” newspapers’ Editor-in-Chief Eynulla Fatullayev, and the subsequent closure of Fatullayev’s two newspapers, the violent attack on Fatullayev’s colleague Uzeir Jafarov, and the arrests of Nakhchivani journalists Hakimeldostu Mehdiyev of “Yeni Musavat” Newspaper and Ilgar Nasibov of “Radio Liberty.”
While presenting this report U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse (right) said: “Unfortunately the 2007 report does not reflect striking development, however in a number of areas we did observe obvious progress. Press freedom is the area that arouses the most concern. Violent crimes against journalists persist. All of the people responsible for these, including the murder of Elmar Huseynov, have gone unpunished. And the number of trials against journalists for slander has increased. Despite the signing of the pardon decree, there are still some journalists in prison.” In addition to press freedom, Derse also touched on the pre-election situation, and positively assessed the granting of a six-year license to ANS TV.
Milli Mejlis Human Rights Committee Chairperson Rabiyyet Aslanova, representatives from the Ombudsman’s office, and human rights advocates Saadet Bananyarli, Murad and Rena Saddeddinov, Novella Jafaroglu, Saida Gojamanli, Elchin Behbudov, and Emin Huseynov (IRFS Chairman) participated in the ceremony of presentation the report.
To view the report in its entirety, go to: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100548.htm
