27 Aug 2010 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost, News and features
Security guards who attacked two journalists may go unpunished after authorities refused to investigate the case. Elmin Badalov and Anar Gerayly were beaten by a wealthy businessman’s private security guards on 28 July.
The two newspaper reporters had been taking photos of luxury homes in the Baku region of Shuvlan, and were then held by the guards for three hours. Police acknowledge that Badalov and Gerayly sustained considerable bruising, but they claim that a medical examination shows this could have been caused by “a serious fall”. Authorities assured journalists last year that the ban on taking photos without consent would not be used against the media.
6 Aug 2010 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost
The Azerbaijan Press Council have published a blacklist of 77 newspapers. They accuse the newspapers of racketeering and publishing articles affecting people’s honour. The blacklist, which is available online, lists the founder and editor-in-chief of each publication. Last year, a similar list in the Eurasian state blacklisted 95 publications.
10 May 2010 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
On 6 May, video footage was confiscated from Norwegian journalists in Azerbaijan. Television reporter Erling Borgen and cameraman Dag Inge Dahl were investigating the case of editor Eynulla Fatullayev— jailed in 2007 for an article deemed insulting to refugees. Upon their return to Oslo from Baku, they discovered that information relating to the investigation was missing from their luggage. Fatullayev recently had his prison sentence extended on drugs charges; the European Court of Human Rights last month called for his immediate release.
20 Apr 2010 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
On April 14, 47 members of the opposition Musavat (Equality) Party were detained for participating in a demonstration in Baku, in the first political rally ahead of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections in November 2010. Demonstrators carried placards calling for freedom of speech, association and assembly, and one called for President Ilham Aliyev to resign. Article 19 has called on the government to ensure that international standards are upheld in the conduct of the elections. “Journalists must also be able to exercise their profession unimpeded and must have the freedom to report on political events”, said Dr Agnès Callamard, Article 19’s executive director.
