Free speech organisations call to reverse the unjust ruling and release Novruzoglu on appeal. All in all, eight journalists are being held behind bars in Azerbaijan at the moment.

On 27 August 2012 the Nizami District Court in Baku sentenced Novruzoglu, also known as Faramaz Allahverdiyev, to four and a half years in jail on charges of illegal border crossing and inciting mass disorder, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) informs.

Jailed for unveiled government’s corruption case
Authorities imprisoned Novruzoglu in April on charges that he had called for mass disobedience on a Facebook page under the name of Elchin Ilgaroglu. Authorities also accused him of illegally crossing the border into Turkey in November 2010.

Novruzoglu denied the charges, saying they had been fabricated in retaliation for his investigative stories on government corruption published in the independent newspaper Milletim and on social networking websites. He said he was not the owner of the above-mentioned Facebook page and that investigators had found no evidence despite seizing his personal computer. He also presented the court with his passport, which showed other travel during the time that he was accused of having crossed the border with Turkey.

Journalist persecuted for years

Emin Huseynov, head of the Baku-based Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, told CPJ that investigators failed to present any credible evidence against Novruzoglu and that the state-appointed defence attorney did not effectively defend him in court.

According to Huseynov, Novruzoglu and his colleagues believed that he was targeted in retaliation for critical articles he wrote on high-level corruption in the export of Azerbaijani crude oil and the import of Russian timber.

This is not the first time Novruzoglu has been prosecuted and imprisoned for his work. He was previously imprisoned in 2007 and 2009 in retaliation for his journalism activities, CPJ reports.

Huseynov said his group will hire an independent lawyer for Novruzoglu, and appeal his verdict within a month.

“Authorities have persecuted Faramaz Novruzoglu for years because of his critical reporting. Novruzoglu should be freed immediately pending appeal, his conviction should be thrown out, and the official retaliation against him should stop once and for all”, said Nina Ognianova, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.

Reporters ill-treated in Azerbaijan’s prisons

In Azerbaijan, at least eight independent reporters are behind bars for their work at the moment, either in prisons or pretrial detention facilities.

Reporters Without Borders say that journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan suffer a double penalty as they are deprived of their freedom and also must endure ill-treatment, harassment and privations of all kinds.

The organisation pays attention to the poor conditions in which journalists are held. “We urge the prison administration to ensure without delay that […] all journalists in detention, are accorded the most basic rights. […] Any other course of action would be a crime. We hold the authorities responsible for the fate of those in detention”.

Reporters Without Borders demand the unconditional release of Hilal Mammadov and Avaz Zeynalli, the two journalists who have been arbitrarily held in prison for several months.

Hilal Mammadov’s case
Hilal Mammadov, right, editor of the newspaper Tolishi Sado (Voice of the Talysh) and a human rights defender, was arrested on 21 June 2012 and charged with “large-scale drugs trafficking” under article 234.4.3 of the Azerbaijani criminal code.

He is alleged to have cooperated with the Iranian secret services and have carried out activities “harmful to the sovereignty, national security and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan”.

Editor died in prison in 2009
Hilal Mammadov has been held in dreadful conditions since June 2012. A case brought by the journalist against the prison administration alleging inhuman treatment was heard in camera two days ago in the basement of the Nasimi district court in Baku.

The judges rejected the complaint by Mammadov, who said he had been given no food or water during his first two days in detention.

His predecessor as editor of the newspaper Tolishi Sado, Novruzali Mammadov, died in prison in 2009 after being denied medical care.

Avaz Zeynalli’s case
Avaz Zeynalli, below, the editor of the daily Khural, was arrested in the beginning of November 2011 as a result of a complaint by a ruling party parliamentarian accusing him of attempted extortion. Separate libel suits have forced the newspaper to stop operating.

The complaint was filed by Gular Akhmedova, a parliamentary representative of the ruling YAP, who claims that Zeynalli threatened to publish compromising information about her in August if she did not give him money.

The only evidence was the recording of a phone call in which the voice alleged to be Zeynalli’s was unrecognizable. In the course of a search of his home and car, the police asked his wife where he had “hidden the gold and guns”.

According to Reporters Without Borders’ information, the spate of judicial proceedings against Zeynalli is a direct result of an article he wrote on 17 October criticising President Ilham Aliev in the wake of an interview he gave to Al-Jazeera.

After the seizure of Khural’s equipment, Zeynalli continued to post more critical articles online. His brother, Rauf Zeynalov, was fired from his post with the traffic police on 20 October without any credible reason given.

Now in detention, Zeynalli’s health remains a cause for concern, although he has received treatment in the hospital of the Baku pre-trial detention centre where he is held.

Zeynalli has written to the human rights ombudswoman, Elmira Suleymanova, to complain that family visits are only granted if he pays bribes of between 50 and 100 manats (EUR 50 and 100). The prison administration has also refused requests to visit him from several international organisations including the OSCE.

It regularly prevents him from talking to his lawyer in private. He has no access to newspapers, and prison staff systematically read his letters.

Zaur Guliyev – victim of inhuman treatment

There has been no improvement in the conditions in which Zaur Guliyev, editor-in-chief of Khayal TV, has been held since his arrest on 13 March 2012. Reporters Without Borders learned in April that he had been victim of inhuman and degrading treatment by prison guards and was subjected to psychological pressure tantamount to torture.

Azerbaijan is ranked 162nd out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index. Journalists, bloggers and activists have been the target of a harsh crackdown since a wave of peaceful demonstrations in March and April 2011 took place that were inspired by the Arab Spring protests.

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