Tweet
AZERBAIJAN CONTINUES MAKING PRESSURE ON OPPOSITION JOURNALIST KH. ISMAYILOVA
18:44 - 7 / 10 / 2014
By EurasiaNet.org
With Azerbaijan's prisons increasingly full of government-detractors,
it might have seemed to many only a matter of time before Azerbaijani
prosecutors would again focus on Khadija Ismayilova, a prominent
journalist known for her exposes of government corruption. Speaking
from Strasbourg, Ismayilova told EurasiaNet.org that she expected to
be arrested on October 3, upon her return home to Baku from a trip
to Europe.
Ismayilova received a court summons on charges of criminal libel during
this trip, travel intended to relay what is widely seen as a wholesale
crackdown on civil society in the energy-rich, ex-Soviet republic. An
award-winning RFE/RL reporter who also has worked for EurasiaNet.org,
Ismayilova needed to appear in court the day she returned to Baku.
"I will be arriving with a lawyer and my main lawyer will be waiting
[in Baku]," she underlined before.
Her trip was closely watched in Baku. At one human-rights talk in
Warsaw, hosted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, Ismayilova and several other participants, wearing t-shirts
with the photos of Azerbaijani political prisoners, turned their
backs on a presentation on human-rights issues, which, they charged,
lacquered over ongoing repressions. Azerbaijan's government-linked
media was quick to attack Ismayilova, claiming she was commanding a
group of people from Armenia, the country's longtime foe.
The claim is a familiar line. Using loyal media as a mouthpiece,
Azerbaijani officials are wont to reduce criticism against them as
part of the workings of the enemy-state. Earlier this summer, one
government-affiliated newspaper ran an article called "Khadija's
Armenian Mother Should Die," which drew condemnation from the US
embassy in Baku.
The ranks of Azerbaijanis willing to risk such smears (and worse)
and chastise the government publicly for alleged abuses of civil
rights have thinned notably this year, however. With arrests running
rampant, many outside observers wonder how Azerbaijan came to chair
the commitee of ministers of the Council of Europe, the continent's
main human rights body.
The reported charges against Ismayilova, though, do not involve the
frequent accusations of tax evasion, espionage or illegal narcotics.
Rather, she says, they are linked to her posting on Facebook a file
that she claims proves that the Azerbaijani security services record
sex-tapes to blackmail dissenters into cooperation. Ismayilova herself
was targeted by the online publication of such a video in 2012.
Though she does not have high hopes for a fair trial, she says that
the charges against her will not scare her away from coming back
to Azerbaijan.
The arrests of Azerbaijani opposition members, journalists and
democracy activists have drawn widespread condemnation in the West,
but, so far, the criticism has yet to translate into any real action.
Note, that the opposition journalist was examined in the airport for
several hours, but nothing suspectable was found in her luggage.
http://www.times.am/?p=96082&l=en
From: A. Papazian
18:44 - 7 / 10 / 2014
By EurasiaNet.org
With Azerbaijan's prisons increasingly full of government-detractors,
it might have seemed to many only a matter of time before Azerbaijani
prosecutors would again focus on Khadija Ismayilova, a prominent
journalist known for her exposes of government corruption. Speaking
from Strasbourg, Ismayilova told EurasiaNet.org that she expected to
be arrested on October 3, upon her return home to Baku from a trip
to Europe.
Ismayilova received a court summons on charges of criminal libel during
this trip, travel intended to relay what is widely seen as a wholesale
crackdown on civil society in the energy-rich, ex-Soviet republic. An
award-winning RFE/RL reporter who also has worked for EurasiaNet.org,
Ismayilova needed to appear in court the day she returned to Baku.
"I will be arriving with a lawyer and my main lawyer will be waiting
[in Baku]," she underlined before.
Her trip was closely watched in Baku. At one human-rights talk in
Warsaw, hosted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, Ismayilova and several other participants, wearing t-shirts
with the photos of Azerbaijani political prisoners, turned their
backs on a presentation on human-rights issues, which, they charged,
lacquered over ongoing repressions. Azerbaijan's government-linked
media was quick to attack Ismayilova, claiming she was commanding a
group of people from Armenia, the country's longtime foe.
The claim is a familiar line. Using loyal media as a mouthpiece,
Azerbaijani officials are wont to reduce criticism against them as
part of the workings of the enemy-state. Earlier this summer, one
government-affiliated newspaper ran an article called "Khadija's
Armenian Mother Should Die," which drew condemnation from the US
embassy in Baku.
The ranks of Azerbaijanis willing to risk such smears (and worse)
and chastise the government publicly for alleged abuses of civil
rights have thinned notably this year, however. With arrests running
rampant, many outside observers wonder how Azerbaijan came to chair
the commitee of ministers of the Council of Europe, the continent's
main human rights body.
The reported charges against Ismayilova, though, do not involve the
frequent accusations of tax evasion, espionage or illegal narcotics.
Rather, she says, they are linked to her posting on Facebook a file
that she claims proves that the Azerbaijani security services record
sex-tapes to blackmail dissenters into cooperation. Ismayilova herself
was targeted by the online publication of such a video in 2012.
Though she does not have high hopes for a fair trial, she says that
the charges against her will not scare her away from coming back
to Azerbaijan.
The arrests of Azerbaijani opposition members, journalists and
democracy activists have drawn widespread condemnation in the West,
but, so far, the criticism has yet to translate into any real action.
Note, that the opposition journalist was examined in the airport for
several hours, but nothing suspectable was found in her luggage.
http://www.times.am/?p=96082&l=en
From: A. Papazian