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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER KHADIJA ISMAYILOVA INVESTIGATES BLACKMAIL CRIME AGAINST HER
By Giorgi Lomsadze
Eurasianet.org
April 5, 2012
BAKU. April 5, 2012: Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija
Ismayilova has taken on an investigation of her own into the filming
of a sexually explicit video posted online in an attempt to blackmail
her into dropping her reporting on a business deal possibly involving
senior government officials.
At an April 4 press conference in Baku, Ismayilova described how,
together with several fellow journalists, she revisited the apartment
where she had been secretly filmed in her bedroom in an intimate
relationship for clues to how the video had been made. During several
visits to the apartment, the team found a hidden network of wires
leading to an outside telephone box. Click here for video
The findings were shared with investigators, who declined to summon
a telephone company expert to pinpoint where the wires led, the team
reported. Instead, Ismayilova said she contacted the telephone company
to provide a technician to examine the box and wires. The technician,
who spoke with investigators' approval, told the team that he had
been ordered by the company in July 2011 to connect the phone box to
Ismayilova's apartment.
The wires have since been removed, but the technician's testimony
not entered into the official evidence.
Ismayilova, her lawyers and associates say that the evidence they
collected offered valuable clues for the official investigation,
but that police have failed to document or act on it. No official
response has yet been released.
The official investigation targets the video as a violation of the
right to privacy, rather than as a crime against a journalist, as
requested by Ismayilova. In a joint release, the team maintains that
the response to their findings indicates that the "[P]rosecutor's
Office fails to act as an independent investigative body."
The incident has sparked an international outpouring of support for
Ismayilova, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty radio talk show host as
well as a longtime reporter for EurasiaNet.org. Ismayilova maintains
that she will not be deterred by the video, but says that she now
has to live "with the feeling that someone was watching" her, and
"may be watching now." (Eurasianet.org)
By Giorgi Lomsadze
Eurasianet.org
April 5, 2012
BAKU. April 5, 2012: Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija
Ismayilova has taken on an investigation of her own into the filming
of a sexually explicit video posted online in an attempt to blackmail
her into dropping her reporting on a business deal possibly involving
senior government officials.
At an April 4 press conference in Baku, Ismayilova described how,
together with several fellow journalists, she revisited the apartment
where she had been secretly filmed in her bedroom in an intimate
relationship for clues to how the video had been made. During several
visits to the apartment, the team found a hidden network of wires
leading to an outside telephone box. Click here for video
The findings were shared with investigators, who declined to summon
a telephone company expert to pinpoint where the wires led, the team
reported. Instead, Ismayilova said she contacted the telephone company
to provide a technician to examine the box and wires. The technician,
who spoke with investigators' approval, told the team that he had
been ordered by the company in July 2011 to connect the phone box to
Ismayilova's apartment.
The wires have since been removed, but the technician's testimony
not entered into the official evidence.
Ismayilova, her lawyers and associates say that the evidence they
collected offered valuable clues for the official investigation,
but that police have failed to document or act on it. No official
response has yet been released.
The official investigation targets the video as a violation of the
right to privacy, rather than as a crime against a journalist, as
requested by Ismayilova. In a joint release, the team maintains that
the response to their findings indicates that the "[P]rosecutor's
Office fails to act as an independent investigative body."
The incident has sparked an international outpouring of support for
Ismayilova, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty radio talk show host as
well as a longtime reporter for EurasiaNet.org. Ismayilova maintains
that she will not be deterred by the video, but says that she now
has to live "with the feeling that someone was watching" her, and
"may be watching now." (Eurasianet.org)