“Meydan TV and its staff have been ruthlessly targeted by Azerbaijani authorities. The charges invoked against Meydan TV are of similar nature to the charges that were used to send journalists and government critics to prison,” said Index senior advocacy officer Melody Patry. “This investigation confirms the government has no intention of changing its approach toward independent media and free expression in the country.”
Meydan TV reported today that Azerbaijani authorities launched a criminal probe against them for “alleged illegal practice and profit-making in an especially large amount, large-scale tax evasion and abuse of power resulting in falsification of elections and/or referendum results”.
The case against Meydan TV’s executives was filed by the General Prosecutor Office of Grave Crimes Investigation Department.
Harassment of Meydan TV and its journalists is not new. Meydan TV staff and their relatives have been facing extensive pressure ranging from threats to detention. 2013 Freedom of Expression Journalism Award-winning newspaper Azadliq was forced to stop printing and has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy as well.
PEN International and Privacy International led 14 free expression and media freedom organisations, including Index on Censorship, in submitting an intervention today in the case of Azerbaijani journalist, Khadija Ismayilova before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The intervention elaborates the freedom of expression and privacy implications of her case.
“The appalling treatment of Khadija Ismayilova by the Azerbaijani authorities is symptomatic of a relentless crackdown on journalists and freedom of expression in the country in recent years”, said Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International. “This important case before the ECtHR is an opportunity to not only redress the injustice in one egregious case but to give wider protection to the media as a whole.”
Ismayilova was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in September 2015, after being convicted of charges that the members of the coalition believe are retribution for her reports on corruption involving senior government officials.
Before her arrest in December 2014, she had been subjected to a relentless campaign of intimidation and persecution very likely orchestrated by the Azerbaijani authorities to discredit her investigative reporting on corruption amongst the highest levels of society.
“Khadija Ismayilova has suffered a serious invasion of her personal privacy through the installation of hidden cameras and wires in her flat and publication of secretly filmed videos among other incidents. Azerbaijan has a positive obligation to carry out an effective investigation into these violations,’ said Camila Graham-Wood, Legal Officer at Privacy International.
The coalition is represented in this case by barristers Can Yeginsu from 4 New Square Chambers and Miranda Butler from 3 Hare Court.
Violence and lies, Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, always stand side-by-side. Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.
Violence doesn’t just mean terrorism, which is now happening at unprecedented levels, making us worry for our lives and the fate of our loved ones. It is no less terrifying when it is sneaking into our consciousness, perverting the heart, killing the faith of the good and making us defenceless against ignorance and bigotry. Mercilessly, good is muddled with evil.
A huge amount of people who hold nothing in their soul, or possess something sinister within, hide behind so-called national views and get away with sowing seeds of hatred between peoples and nations who not long ago lived together in peace.
Nationalism is the terrible character of the heartless optimist who rejects tragedy in life, as this completely contradicts his reality. This is a revolt against reason and humanity. It is a blatant lie, told by a fiendish and fierce people who have the audacity to proclaim themselves the sole bearers of truth and as veritable champions of national happiness. Consequently, patriotism imposed from above provides a great opportunity for fascist bastards to transform a people into a mindless mass. But we know those standing closest to the masses to be the most corrupt. Addressing the masses as people is to push them towards evil bigotry.
When you live in sin among sinners, it catches on. But the writer is able, even in the most extreme circumstances, to remain calm and conscious before absolute truth.
“Truth is above Nekrasov, above Pushkin, above the people, above Russia,” wrote Dostoevsky in his time.
“Beware of writers declaring themselves the voice of a nation,” warns a contemporary literary great, Andrey Bitov.
In order to become the darling of the masses, you can write whatever you like in any way. However, becoming kindred to the reader happens for few writers.
All true literature is paved with honesty about the thoughts and feelings of the writer. A writer is not a writer for mass adoration by those who read. He is an authentic expression of indelible moral value to which people entrust pain. And when people start to lose face, the writer suffers most.
A writer is a teacher from the hearts of people and is in no way at fault for politicians’ inability to comprehend such a magical quality.
The mind of the regime does not tolerate the individual views of writers who take on landmark events arising in society. Writers with individual views are horribly and cruelly punished by the regime. In my case the punishment was brutal and unmerciful.
But I shall not let this spread: I do not want to disgrace my little country before a foreign audience. Even after what the current rulers have done to me, I love my country.
My story has plenty of sorrow, but there was also much worth and insight.
It seems with my little essay, now published in Italian as well, I accomplished my main goal: I saved many Armenians from hatred of my people.
I have understood that in this bloody conflict, neither the Armenians or we are to blame – people would never wage war without the interference of politics.
And I have again ascertained that while our nations are good on their own, together they are magnificent.
I always knew going from invisible to visible required suffering. Having taken my own way on this path, I tried not to trip or fall. Evidently, my soul needed definitive torturing to awaken and know itself in the midst of others, those disposed to immediate corruption and seasonal treason.
There are moments in life that last many lifetimes. I was a hero for some and a traitor for others. I never for a moment felt I was a hero or traitor, just a regular writer and humanitarian who is able to feel the pain of others.
I found myself in the same position as Galileo, who never doubted the truth he knew and yet could not use this indisputable truth to break through the rusted hearts of the keepers of dogma.
I was deprived of peace and prosperity for taking a small step in bringing people closer, people who are already related and bound not only by geography, but by the fate of a centuries-old history.
And I have no greater dream than to see them together again.
And I’d like to live to see the light of this day.
This is an extract of the speech Akram Aylisli was due to give at the Italian literary festival Incroci di Civilta last week, before he was prevented from travelling by Baku airport authorities. Aylisi sent the speech to Index and gave it permission to translate and publish it.
Hebib Müntezir is an Azerbaijani blogger andsocial media manager of the non-profit Meydan TV. Müntezir is one of Azerbaijan’s most famous online activists, and in a country where social media is the final platform on which journalists are able to report, his influence has made him a significant annoyance to the Azerbaijani authorities. His YouTube videos have now been watched upwards of 27 million times, and his Facebook page is followed by over 22,000 people.
The organisation Müntezir has aligned forces with, Meydan TV, launched in 2013, and is one of the few news sites critical of the Azerbaijani government and its policies. The site is published in Azerbaijani, English, and Russian.
2015 saw a huge media crackdown in Azerbaijan, with government critics sentenced to long prison terms, and journalists facing harassment and prosecution. The crackdown intensified when Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, hosted the first European Games – at a significant economic cost to a country already suffering from plummeting oil prices. The clampdown by the ruling New Azerbaijan party, re-elected in 2015 to serve another five years on their 20-year-run, showed their nervousness about the Games, and the international scrutiny that came with them.
With little coverage by traditional media, Azerbaijanis looked online for information, says Müntezir. “During the European Games in Baku in June 2015, our social media content reached over 1.5 million people in a population of less than 10 million,” Müntezir told Index.
Meydan TV’s powerful online presence and outspoken journalists have made them repeated targets during the authorities’ crackdown.
On 16 September 2015, freelance Meydan TV reporter Aytaj Ahmadova and a Meydan TV intern were stopped by police and taken to the organised crime unit. They were released after several hours in which Ahmadova says she was threatened and told to stop doing “opposition work”.
The same day a former Meydan employee Aysel Umudova was summoned by the prosecution service and questioned about her past work.
Then a couple of days later, Shirin Abbasov, a reporter for Meydan, was imprisoned, and authorities searched the home of another Meydan reporter.
The following day three Meydan journalists were detained after flying into Baku airport and questioned for several hours about Meydan. They were summoned by police again on 22 September and told off for speaking to the press after their earlier detention.
Emin Milli, Meydan’s director who is living in exile,told the media that Azerbaijani authorities had also threatened to punish him. According Milli, a threatening note allegedly sent by Azerbaijan’s sports minister read: “We will get you wherever you are and the state will punish you for this smear-campaign against the state that you have organized. You will get punished for this. You will not be able to walk freely in Berlin or anywhere else.”
During this crackdown, social media has been hailed as the only way journalists can freely report on otherwise censored issues in Azerbaijan. “Our social media strategy has been the driving force of our success in terms of audience outreach and engagement,” said Milli.
“Many people in Azerbaijan are afraid to talk to independent media,” said Müntezir. “But citizens still reach out to me to share content and offer support.”
