New upsurge in assaults on journalists

August 6, 1999

His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliet Street
Baku, Azerbaijan 370066
Via fax: 011-9412-920-625

Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by a recent series of violent attacks against journalists in Azerbaijan, including the August 6 assault on Mirjavid Rahim, a reporter with the Uch Noqte daily in Baku.

Rahim was assaulted by three unidentified men outside the Supreme Court in Baku, where he had gone to cover the high-profile trial of Bashir Hajiyev, the former head of a local branch of the Russian Prominvestbank, who has been accused of embezzling 100 billion manats (about US$40 million) from the bank. When he arrived at the courthouse at 10 a.m., Rahim learned that the trial had been delayed.

As he was waiting outside the courthouse, the reporter was approached by an unknown man who asked whether he had agreed to meet certain demands. Rahim immediately recalled an incident from the previous week, when another unidentified man approached him and demanded that he implicate a local government official as an accomplice in the Hajiyev case. This recollection prompted Rahim to attempt flight. But before he could make good his escape, two more men joined the first, and the trio assaulted him.

Rahim suffered minor cuts and abrasions, but decided not seek medical attention. Instead he returned to the offices of Uch Noqte,where he and his editor called a news conference to denounce the assault along with other recent attacks on journalists in Azerbaijan.

In the last two months, at least six other journalists have been severely beaten in three separate incidents. On June 19, Elman Maliyev, a reporter with the opposition newspaper Hurriyet, was brutally assaulted by two unknown men who said they were punishing him for his work. On June 29, four other journalists were assaulted by a group of unidentified assailants who raided Hurriyet’s offices. This last attack came in reprisal for a series of articles on local oil barons. On June 30, Kamil Tagisoy, a correspondent with the Yeni Musavat opposition daily, was abducted, beaten and threatened in retaliation for a series of articles he had written on the state of Your Excellency’s health.

All of these incidents occurred shortly after government officials and lawmakers condemned the work of independent and opposition journalists during a bitter June debate in the Milli Mejlis (parliament) over a new, highly restrictive media bill.

As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending the universally recognized rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ condemns these violent reprisals against Bashir Rahim and other Azerbaijani journalists for practicing their profession. These acts violate all of your government’s international obligations to guarantee press freedom. We believe that your open hostility to journalists, as displayed during recent parliamentary debates on the draft media law, has encouraged local enemies of the press to use violence. We strongly urge you to condemn these brutal assaults, and to launch a thorough investigation immediately. We further call on you to use your authority to ensure the rights of journalists in Azerbaijan to practice their profession freely and safely.

Thank you for your attention to these urgent matters. We await your reply.

Sincerely,

Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director


Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Azerbaijan

Send a letter to:

His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliet Street
Baku, Azerbaijan 370066
Via fax: 011-9412-920-625