(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) has condemned the Azerbaijani authorities´ freezing of the assets of “Yeni Musavat”, the country´s main opposition daily, on 16 November 2004. The move has forced the paper to cease publishing. The decision was taken on the grounds that the newspaper failed to pay fines and damages totalling some 125,000 euros. (18 NOV 2004)
The newspaper´s closure is “the logical outcome of the judicial Harassment to which it has been subjected,” the organisation said. “It has been strangled by the exorbitant amount of the fines, and its disappearance will have dire consequences for diversity of news and information in Azerbaijan.”
The newspaper´s financial difficulties began in late 2003 after it was convicted in six legal actions. Among those who sued the newspaper were Azerbaijan´s ambassador to Turkey, Mamed Aliev, the Supreme Court president´s brother, Rashid Hasanov, and Defence Minister Safar Abiyev.
Moreover, “Yeni Musavat” editor-in-chief Rauf Arifoglu (who is also vice-president of the opposition party Musavat), has been detained for more than a year. On 22 October, a Baku court sentenced him to five years in prison for “disturbing the peace and “refusing to comply” with instructions from authorities (see IFEX alerts of 26 and 22 October, 6 August, 23 June, 17 February and 23 January 2004 and others). His lawyer, Samed Panahov, Said no evidence was brought against Arifoglu during the trial, which was Marred by irregularities.
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