International freedom of expression organisations call for Eynulla Fatullayev’s release

Eleven international freedom of expression organisations have submitted an open letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev calling for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned Editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev. Fatullayev’s continued imprisonment constitutes a breach of Azerbaijan’s international legal commitments and a violation of Fatullayev’s rights.

The open letter to President Aliyev is available here.

Fatullayev has been in prison on charges related to his journalistic activities since April 2007. After writing a series of articles critical of the government, he was convicted by Azerbaijani courts of libel, terrorism, incitement of ethnic hatred and tax evasion, and sentenced to a total of eight and a half years in prison.

He was also charged with possessing heroin in his prison cell on 30 December 2009. Fatullayev, who has no reported history of drug use, strongly refutes the new allegations. He maintains that the drugs were planted on him.

Miklos Haraszti, former The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, stated that he “visited Eynulla Fatullayev twice in his high security-prison and find[s] allegations of heroin smuggling or possession highly improbable.”

European Court’s decision ignored
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on 22 April 2010 that Fatullayev’s imprisonment constituted a violation of his freedom of expression and right to a fair trial, and ordered the Azerbaijani Government to immediately release Fatullayev (below) and to pay him €27,822 for damages and legal expenses. On 4 October 2010, the European Court’s Grand Chamber rejected the Azerbaijani Government’s appeal in Fatullayev’s case, making the 22 April judgment effective.

“Council of Europe Member States are obligated to comply with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”, says Dr Agnès Callamard, Article 19 Executive Director. “We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to take immediate action to fully comply with the European Court’s ruling in Fatullayev’s case”.

In the joint letter, the organisations also called for the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure Fatullayev’s health and safety whilst in detention, in light of his current hunger strike action.

More calls
In May 2009 Amnesty International, Article 19, and International PEN called on the Azerbaijani government to comply with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and immediately release Fatullayev.

The organizations also urged Azerbaijan to drop the new charges brought against him in December 2009, as they believe them to have been fabricated in an effort to silence Fatullayev’s investigative journalism, which has been critical of the government.

Not only Fatullayev is imprisoned for his critical view of Government. Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade (below), two video bloggers from Azerbaijan were taken into police custody on 8 July, 2009 on “hooliganism”. On 19 August this year, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ rulings, which convicted Milli and Hajizade of hooliganism and sentenced them to two and a half years and two years of imprisonment respectively.

According to nine freedom of expression organizations, which undertook a joint mission to Azerbaijan in September 2010, the freedom of expression situation in Azerbaijan has sharply deteriorated over the past several years due to a number of trends, including the imprisonment of journalists and bloggers, acts of violence against journalists and impunity for those who commit those acts, and state domination of the broadcast media.

As a result of a joint mission to Azerbaijan, nine organisations ahead of Azerbaijan’s upcoming Parliamentary elections launched a new report titled “Free Expression under Attack: Azerbaijan’s Deteriorating Media Environment”. It highlights the Azerbaijani government’s failure to comply with its international commitments to promote and protect freedom of expression.

Contacts
For more information please contact: Rebecca Vincent at rebecca@article19.org or +44 20 7324 2500.

HRH London, based on Article 19 press release.

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