Elmar Huseynov, the well-known journalist and the chief editor of opposition-minded MONITOR journal was killed brutally at the entrance of his apartment on Wednesday at around 9:00 pm. Monitor, is a Russian-language weekly and socio-political magazine and critical of the government. Monitor, is always very outspoken in its criticism of the government. The bulk of its 60-odd pages are filled with investigative pieces, exposing official corruption, mismanagement and crime in different fields of economics and politics. (4-MAR-2005)
“He was with us all day long. He left for home from the office at around 7:30. After 2 hours and half, we heard that he was murdered. His wife has heard two slow knockings on the door, but not the shooting sounds”, says Eynulla Fatullayev, the political commentator of Monitor.
Huseynov was found slain close to his own apartment door at third floor. He was shot down with a close distance, as the police found eight bullets in the crime spot. Two bullets were shot to heart, while one directed to his neck.
The attack appears to have well planned and orchestrated. To light at the entrance of the 
apartment building was not working, and that several telephones in the area had been disconnected at the time of the shooting.
A large number of police officers were deployed at the crime zone. On Thursday, police declared that PSM type gun was found some 150 metres away from the crime spot.
According to Fatullayev, both the mobile and home phones of Elmar Huseynov were blocked just before the crime happened. “It is a masterminded plan to scare and silence the opposition media”, says of the journalist.
The human rights groups and journalists claim that Huseynov was murdered for his outspokenness and critic articles on government officials and Aliyevs’ family.
“My son was killed on a political order from the top officials. He fell victim to his outspokenness and critic views”, said the father of the deceased.
“I have seen his bloody corpse. The aisle between the lift and apartment door is blood. He was brutally killed”, says Novella Jafaroglu, the local activist.
Eldar Namazov, an independent political analyst in Baku, said however it appeared the killing had been ordered. “This was a contract hit,” Namazov said. “What happened today is way beyond acceptable, it is an open attempt at turning Azerbaijan into Belarus or Turkmenistan.”
Azerbaijan has been accused of suppressing freedom of speech in the run up to a parliamentary vote in November.
Monitor journal faced hefty fines and dozens of lawsuits filed by various senior government officials. The magazine currently faces several lawsuits in retaliation for its critical reporting, and journalists working for the publication have faced a steady stream of harassment from government officials.
In February, military officials abducted Monitor journalist Akrep Hasanov and held him for five hours after he had exposed abuses and mismanagement in an Azerbaijani military unit.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has “expressed a deep concern” about the murder of country’s most outspoken opposition journalists, Elmar Huseynov and demanded that law enforcement agencies bring the killer to justice.
The US State Department said defamation suits brought by officials against independent journalists and newspapers as well as high court fines for libel remained significant problems for the media in Azerbaijan in its annual assessment of human rights in the former Soviet republic, earlier this week.
“We are shocked and saddened by the murder of Elmar Huseynov, and our thoughts are with his family and colleagues,” the New York-based the Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “Press freedom conditions have declined in the last two years since President Ilham Aliyev took office, and we call on him to ensure that this case is aggressively investigated and prosecuted”, she said.
