08 Feb 17 | Azerbaijan, Mapping Media Freedom, News and features
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Photo: Aziz Karimov
For Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev and many other authoritarian leaders across the world, independent journalism and what it represents is bad news. The more irritating leaders find journalists’ work, the harsher consequences are for those reporting. This has been one of the most worrying trends across the world in recent years.
In 2016, there were 38 threats to press freedom reported to the Index on Censorship project Mapping Media Freedom. Journalists critical of the government were tortured and arrested. Internet sites were repeatedly blocked. TV outlets were knocked off the air through revocation of broadcast licences. Newspapers were starved to near bankruptcy and prevented from printing. Online criticism of the country’s hereditary president has been outlawed. Even family members of journalists have been targeted.
“In the last year alone, authorities have either detained, arrested, questioned six journalists and one blogger. Some parliament members have even hinted at introducing legislation that would monitor social media. The relentless pressure on media professionals and citizen journalists in Azerbaijan is aimed at shutting down any criticism of the Aliyev regime. The continued crackdown on freedom of speech is a clear violation of human rights,” Hannah Machlin, Mapping Media Freedom project officer, said.
The dismal state of free expression in Azerbaijan catalogued by Mapping Media Freedom is indirectly validated by Reporters Without Borders’ 2016 Press Freedom Index. That organisation found a disturbing decline in respect for media freedom around the world.
“It is unfortunately clear that many of the world’s leaders are developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalists,” secretary general of RSF Christophe Deloire said.
Azerbaijan ranks 163rd on the press freedom index. The country’s ruling powers have long banned independent journalism and anyone who remained defiant was branded an agent, a traitor, a hooligan, a drug addict, anything but a journalist. While Mapping Media Freedom began closely monitoring the country in the second quarter of 2016, the clampdown on journalists long precedes this.
In 2014, authorities shut down the office of Azerbaijan Service for Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. Around the same time, the dissident media outlet Meydan TV, shut down its office fearing a similar action. Its reporters on the ground have been detained, questioned and placed on travel ban lists ever since. Independent newspapers such as Zerkalo and Azadliq have been stifled with numerous libel charges. Both newspapers ceased printing issues with Azadliq available to its readers online only. One, columnist and TV anchor Seymur Hezi, remains in jail following a charge of “aggravated hooliganism” saw him sent to prison for over five years.
Azerbaijan’s media in exile
As the space for a free media shrank over the past few years, journalists fled the country. Some have chosen neighbouring Georgia as their base while others continue their work from Berlin and elsewhere.
Since 2015, a group of exiled Azerbaijani civil society activists who have been based in Georgia have designed a project to create opportunities for Azerbaijani journalists based in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, to work with local media outlets. Under the guidance of the Human Rights House Tbilisi, this initiative has involved at least a dozen journalists from Azerbaijan. The group has reported on the human rights and the day-to-day of living in Georgia.
Gulnur Kazimova left Azerbaijan out of fear of persecution and is currently based in Tbilisi where she lives with her family. She was among the participants of the HRH initiative. During the programme she reported on women’s issues that Azerbaijani community faced in Georgia. One such story was about a 19-year-old woman who was constantly beaten and threatened by her husband who kidnapped her at the age of 13 and eventually murdered her by cutting her throat. Another exiled journalist, Tural Gurbanli, wrote about the issue of wearing hijab in the village of Karajala, which is mostly populated by Azerbaijanis who have settled in Georgia.
Emin Milli, a former political prisoner, who currently lives in exile in Berlin, created Meydan TV, an online media platform. With over 400,000 likes on their Facebook page, and over 60,000 subscribers to its YouTube Channel, Meydan TV has strived to present a comprehensive picture of Azerbaijan by collecting news, conducting interviews and providing independent reporting. Its freelance contributors inside the country have paid a heavy price for this: they have been persecuted by the police, detained, questioned and placed on no travel lists.
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty Azerbaijan Service’s contributors have also been targeted by officials in the country. Like Meydan TV, Radio Liberty has a large following on Facebook with over 400,000 readers and more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Index on Censorship Award-winning Azadliq newspaper continues its coverage of the country through its online presence despite the ongoing targeting by the government. The newspaper’s editor-in-chief is exiled while his family members have been harassed by the authorities, and the newspaper’s chief financial director was arrested for his alleged support for Gulen religious movement said to be behind the failed coup in Turkey and his criticism of the authorities and was recently sentenced to 10 years in jail.
The current list of political prisoners that stands around 100 individuals includes prominent journalist Seymur Hezi, as well as other journalists and bloggers who have been jailed on bogus charges. Despite the release of top investigative reporter Khadija Ismayil in May of 2016, along with a number of other prominent political prisoners, the new arrests and crackdown against existing independent media, its reporters and its platforms are indicative of a revolving door policy when it comes to press freedom in Azerbaijan. [/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1486487716820-6a1b311c-3186-5″ taxonomies=”7145″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
06 Feb 17 | Mapping Media Freedom, News and features
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Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Three journalists working for Quotidien, a daily current affairs show, were violently ejected from of a conference at Palais des Congrès on 1 February after attempting to ask a question to leader of the National Front party Marine Le Pen, newspaper Libération reported.
Journalist Paul Larrouturou, who had an accreditation allowing him to be present during the Salon des Entrepreneurs, attempted to ask Le Pen about claims she had misused European parliament funds to pay her body guards.
Larrouturou asked Le Pen: “Was your bodyguard really your parliamentary assistant or…”.
The journalist was grabbed from behind before finishing the question. He and two of his colleagues were then prevented from coming back inside by security.
The National Front told French newspaper Le Parisien that it did not take responsibility for the actions of the security guards, saying: “It’s not us. There were no instructions [from us]. We don’t run the Palais.”
However, the journalists said it was a member of Le Pen security who gave the order to expel them.
This is not the first incident where the three journalists encountered problems with the Front National. They were assaulted by Front National supporters during the 1 May 2015 party march.
Turkish journalist Arzu Demir was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of spreading propaganda for a terrorist organisation through two books she has authored, independent news website T24 reported.
The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court handed down a three year sentence for each book in a trial session held on 26 January.
Demir was being tried on charges of “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organisation,” “praising a crime and a criminal” and “inciting the public to commit a crime” in her books Dağın Kadın Hali, meaning The Female State of the Mountain and Devrimin Rojava Hali, meaning The Rojava State of Revolution.
Dağın Kadın Hali features interviews with 11 women who are Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the Turkish government. A Turkish court had banned the book and ordered it to be pulled from bookstore shelves on 15 March 2016.
The Rojava State of Revolution, banned in April 2016, investigates the current attempts to rebuild in the Syrian Kurdish city of Rojava.
In an interview with independent news website Bianet, Arzu Demir said: “I have always said, since the start of these trials, that the case is a political trial based on the current conditions. This ruling is proof of that. All I did, as I said in my statement, was journalism.”
“I am glad that I’ve written [these books] and I am continuing to write,” she added.
The court did not introduce any possible reductions to the journalist’s sentence on the grounds that she had shown “no regret” for the alleged crime.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided the flat of former editor-in-chief of Vesti.Reporter magazine, Inna Zolotukhina, in Kharkiv around 7.30 AM on 27 January, Detector Media reported.
“I opened the door and a crowd of men entered the apartment. There were seven people, three of them from Kyiv’s Security Service of Ukraine, two from Kharkiv’s Security Service of Ukraine and two witnesses”, Zolotukhina told Detector Media.
At the same time, another search was conducted at the journalist’s mother’s house in Brovary near Kyiv.
Later Zolotukhina wrote on her Facebook page that she had been interrogated by the SBU as a witness on 30 January. According to the journalist, the questioning lasted from 10.00 to 18.30.
“I have signed a non-disclosure agreement, so now I can’t say anything”, the journalist wrote.
The search and interrogation were linked to a criminal case on separatism brought against unidentified persons at Media Invest Group holding which publishes Vesti Newspaper and Vesti.Reporter Magazine. Many journalists and employees of the holding have been interrogated in connection to the case.
On 25 January a court in Baku sentenced journalist Fuad Gahramanli to 10 years in prison, Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety reported.
The case is related to the armed incident between religious group, Muslim Union Movement, and police officers in the village of Nardaran where six people died, including two police officers.
Fuad Gahramanli is not a member of the religious group but was accused of promoting them on Facebook, where he urged people not to abandon the MUM’s leader and to continue protesting, IRFS reported.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/
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23 Sep 16 | Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan News, Cyprus, Europe and Central Asia, France, Mapping Media Freedom, mobile, News and features, Russia
Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
The right-wing National Front (FN) party of France held its summer conference in Fréjus earlier this month. On 16 September the party refused to allow access to the independent media website Mediapart and the Quotidien television programme. The party has denied access to Mediapart in the past due to its critical reporting on the party.
Journalists’ societies of Radio France, le Monde, le Figaro, Libération, le Parisien, les Echos, Courrier International, AEF, France 2, France 3, TF1, Itélé/Canal+ denounced the ban and said they hoped it would not happen again. The FN has refused to grant access to journalists in the past despite this being against the law.
Regardless of the party’s attempt to keep Mediapart from the summer conference, the website claims they hired a freelance writer to cover the event.
Vladimir Romensky was removed by police from a Russian polling station on 18 September. Romensky is a reporter for the independent television channel Dozhd and was sent to the polling station to investigate potential voter fraud. He was responding to rumors that ballot stuffing had occurred at the site.
When Romensky attempted to enter he was approached by a man who refused to introduce himself and did not allow Romensky or his camera crew to access the polling station. A nearby police officer then intervened and demanded to see Romensky’s documents. Despite having all the necessary documents for his camera crew and himself, the police officer called armed guards and pushed the crew out of the station.
Dmitry Korotkov, a reporter for the Russian news site Fontanka, was arrested in St Petersburg on 18 September while investigating voter fraud.
Korotkov was looking into information about carousel voting, which occurs when an organised group of voters travels to different voting districts to repeatedly vote, even though they are not registered in that district. Fontanka discovered that voters were given four ballots at a certain polling station after revealing a special stamp on their passports to polling officials.
Korotkov was able to obtain the passport stamp and received four ballots at the designated polling station even though he was not registered in the specific district. In response, the polling official offered for him to sign as another voter.
Korotkov revealed to the polling official who he was and the fraud that was occurring. The official promised to investigate the situation and called the police, however Korotkov was detained instead. They charged him with illegally obtaining ballot papers.
At around 2am on 19 September, crime reporter Dina Kleanthous’ car was set on fire by an unknown arsonist.
Kleanthous is a reporter for the online news site Reporter Online. She believes the act is not personal, but a response to her work. Kleanthous had recently been receiving threats regarding a story she was covering.
Dunja Mijatović, a representative for the Freedom of Media in the OSCE, said: “This blatant attempt to coerce a journalist who is reporting on news of public interest is simply unacceptable, I urge the authorities to investigate this incident thoroughly and bring to justice those responsible.”
Hilal Mammadov, the editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Tolyshi Sado, was summoned by police on 19 September. The newspaper covers the ethnic minority of Talysh in Azerbaijan.
Mammadov is a former political prisoner, sentenced to five years in prison in 2013 on spurious charges of “illegal selling of drugs”, “high treason”, and “incitement to national, racial, social, and religious hatred and hostility”. Mammadov was pardoned in March 2016.
After being summoned on 19 September, Mammadov claims the police asked him whether he was a part of a “secret opposition“ and he was forced to give the names of his family to the officials.
02 Sep 16 | Albania, Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan News, Europe and Central Asia, Kosovo, Mapping Media Freedom, News and features, Russia, Turkey
Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
30 August 2016 – The home of veteran journalist and Index contributor Yavuz Baydar was raided by the police, the journalist reported via Twitter.
The raid came shortly after detention warrants were issued for 35 people including 27 journalists. As of 30 August, of the 27 journalists sought nine have been detained in Turkey while 18 other journalists are reportedly abroad.
Also read by Baydar: Turkey: Losing the rule of law
28 August 2016 – At around 10pm an unidentified individual threw a hand grenade at the house of Mentor Shala, the director of Kosovo’s public broadcaster RTK.
Shala and his family were inside at the time. No casualties were reported but according to the RTK director the explosion was strong and that it had shocked the whole neighbourhood.
Kosovo’s police are investigating the case, which is the second attack on national broadcaster RTK within a week. On 22 August 2016 an explosive device was thrown at the broadcaster’s headquarters.
President Hashim Thaci has condemned the attack. “Criminal attacks against media executives and their families threaten the privacy and freedom of speech, and at the same time seriously damage the image of Kosovo,” he told RTK.
Both attacks were claimed by a group called Rugovasit, which said in a written statement to RTK that the attack was “only a warning”.
Rugovasit blames RTK journalist Mentor Shala for only reporting the government’s perspective. “If he does not resign from RTK, his life is in danger,” they said.
27 August 2016 – Journalist and founder of news agency Novy Region, Alexander Shchetinin, was found dead in his apartment in Kiev.
The National Police confirmed in a statement that “a man with a gunshot wound to the head was discovered on the balcony”. He reportedly died between 8-9.30pm.
Police found cartridges, a gun and a letter at the scene. “The doors to the apartment were closed, the interior looks intact,” police reported.
“Until all the facts are established, until the examination and forensic examination is complete, we are investigating it as a murder,” said Kiev police chief Andrey Kryschenko. “The main lines of enquiry are suicide and connections with his professional activities.”
The Russian-born journalist had lived in the Ukrainian capital since 2005. He was often critical of the Russian government. In 2014, he refused Russian citizenship, later joined the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
20 August 2016 – Faeces was poured onto the prominent Russian journalist Yulia Latynina, who works for independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and hosts a programme called Kod Dostupa at radio station Echo of Moscow.
According to Latynina, the incident took place close to the radio’s office at Novy Arbat in central Moscow. An unidentified individual in a motorcycle helmet perpetrated the attack, while his accomplice was waiting for him at a motorcycle nearby. The unidentified individuals fled the scene.
Latynina told Echo of Moscow that it was the 14th or the 15th time she has been attacked. She believes the assailants had been following her for a long time as they seemed to know her daily commute and where she parks her car.
Latynina also believes the incident is connected to her Novaya Gazeta investigations into billionaire Evgeny Prigozhin, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Latynina’s investigations, Prigozhin has orchestrated mass trolling on opposition activists in Saint Petersburg.
22 August 2016 – A prosecutor has asked for a three-month prison sentence for Faig Amirli, the director of the newspaper Azadliq, Radio Free Europe’s Azerbaijan Service.
Amirli’s lawyer declared that his client is being charged for spreading national and religious hatred, along with promoting religious sects and disturbing public order by performing religious activities.
Amirli was detained by a group of unidentified individuals on 20 August. At the time, his whereabouts were unknown while his house was searched by the representatives of Grave Crimes Unit.
Police claim they found literature related to Fethullah Gülen, the alleged orchestrator of the attempted coup in Turkey, in Amirli’s car.
His arrest is considered part of a new crackdown in Azerbaijan ahead of the September’s constitutional referendum.
Also read: Azadliq: “We are working under the dual threat of government harassment and financial insecurity”
