Eynulla Fatullayev
Encyclopedia
Eynulla Emin oglu Fatullayev (born 25 September 1976, Baku
) is an Azerbaijani
journalist and editor-in-chief of the independent Russian
-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azeri-language daily Gündəlik Azərbaycan newspapers. He was imprisoned for four years in Azerbaijan
for his criticism of government's policies and for his alleged comments on the Khojaly massacre
. His sentence was condemned by Reporters Without Borders
, International PEN
, and the Committee to Protect Journalists
, and Amnesty International
named him a prisoner of conscience
and 2011 "priority case."
for his articles critical of the government. Eynulla Fatullayev was also called to face a fine of 25,000 Euros and to be jailed for "insulting the name and dignity" of a deputy in the ruling party, Siyavush Novruzov.
In early August 2006, Minister Usubov filed three criminal defamation suits against Eynulla Fatullayev in response to articles titled “The revenge of the antibiotic,” “The failure of the antibiotic,” and “The antibiotic and journalists,” published in July and August, which alleged ties between the Interior Ministry official Ramil Usubov and Haji Mammadov
, a former Interior Ministry official who was on trial for murder and kidnapping. On September 26, 2006, Judge Malakhat Abdulmanafova of the Yasamal District Court in Baku
convicted Fatullayev of criminal libel and insult and sentenced him to a conditional two-year prison term, ordered him to publish a retraction, and pay a fine of US$11,300 in moral damages to Usubov. Fatullayev suspects this was in retaliation to his critical publications against the Interior Ministry.
On October 1, 2006, Eynulla Fatullayev was forced to suspend publication of both papers after his father was kidnapped. The kidnappers threatened to kill Fatullayev, as well as his father, if Fatullayev continued to publish the papers. The kidnapping had been preceded by numerous phone threats against Fatullayev and his family. Fatullayev told Human Rights Watch
:
had been committed by the Azerbaijani army and not by Armenians
. Fatullayev said he did not hold an interview with the website and called it propaganda against him. On March 1, 2007, 70-80 people had held a protest outside the editorial office of Fatullayev and raised posters that accused him of being a Dashnak (Armenian) agent and calling for Fatullayev to be stripped of his citizenship. After the reading the resolution, the participants threw eggs at the editorial office, breaking two windows. The police suppressed the protest. On May 31, the Azerbaijani Union of War Veterans expressed its disapproval against Fatullayev's article about the Khojaly massacre.
Fatullayev was charged with slandering the army and sentenced to eight and a half years' imprisonment, a term he is currently serving in Baku
. Amnesty International described the case as "trumped up charges after being critical of the government."
On 30 December 2009, prison officials alleged that they found 0.22 grams of heroin in Fatullayev's cell, a crime for which he was later sentenced to an additional two and a half years' imprisonment. Amnesty International again described the charges as "fabricated."
The European Court of Human Rights
has ordered Azerbaijan to release Fatullayev and to pay him EUR 25,000 in "moral damages".
On 24 May 2011, UK journalists including Jon Snow
of Channel 4 News
and John Mulholland, editor of The Observer
, joined Amnesty International
in issuing a "mass tweet
" on Fatullayev's behalf; the journalists photographed themselves with placards reading “Eynulla Fatullayevi azad et!”—meaning “Free Eynulla Fatullayev!” in Azeri—and tweeted the photographs to President Ilham Aliyev
. Fatullayev received a full pardon two days later, and he was released after serving four years of his eight-year sentence. He attributed his release to the work of Amnesty International activists, saying, "In my opinion, you saved me. Thank you to all those who tweeted."
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
) is an Azerbaijani
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
journalist and editor-in-chief of the independent Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azeri-language daily Gündəlik Azərbaycan newspapers. He was imprisoned for four years in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
for his criticism of government's policies and for his alleged comments on the Khojaly massacre
Khojaly Massacre
The Khojaly Massacre was the killing of hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from the town of Khojaly on 25–26 February 1992 by the Armenian and Russian armed forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
. His sentence was condemned by Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
, International PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
, and the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
, and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
named him a prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...
and 2011 "priority case."
Editor of Realny Azerbaijan and Gündəlik Azərbaycan
Eynulla Fatullayev's editorship of the Realny Azerbaijan and Gündəlik Azərbaycan was notable for its criticism of the Azerbaijani government and its policies. In both publications, he criticized the government for its violations of press freedom and human rights. He has also been criticised for his article about the 2003 Azerbaijani elections which were accused of being fraudulent.Threats, assaults, and kidnappings of family
Fatullayev has a history of threats ranging from threats to become persecuted, death threats, being beaten and even having family members kidnapped in Azerbaijan. On July 26, 2004, he was severely beaten with blows to the head on a street in BakuBaku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
for his articles critical of the government. Eynulla Fatullayev was also called to face a fine of 25,000 Euros and to be jailed for "insulting the name and dignity" of a deputy in the ruling party, Siyavush Novruzov.
In early August 2006, Minister Usubov filed three criminal defamation suits against Eynulla Fatullayev in response to articles titled “The revenge of the antibiotic,” “The failure of the antibiotic,” and “The antibiotic and journalists,” published in July and August, which alleged ties between the Interior Ministry official Ramil Usubov and Haji Mammadov
Haji Mammadov
Haji Mammadov is a former officer of Crime Investigation Department of Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 11 people and kidnapping of 10.-The gang:...
, a former Interior Ministry official who was on trial for murder and kidnapping. On September 26, 2006, Judge Malakhat Abdulmanafova of the Yasamal District Court in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
convicted Fatullayev of criminal libel and insult and sentenced him to a conditional two-year prison term, ordered him to publish a retraction, and pay a fine of US$11,300 in moral damages to Usubov. Fatullayev suspects this was in retaliation to his critical publications against the Interior Ministry.
On October 1, 2006, Eynulla Fatullayev was forced to suspend publication of both papers after his father was kidnapped. The kidnappers threatened to kill Fatullayev, as well as his father, if Fatullayev continued to publish the papers. The kidnapping had been preceded by numerous phone threats against Fatullayev and his family. Fatullayev told Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
:
Starting on September 27, I personally, my family, and the paper’s commercial director got frequent phone calls warning us to stop writing critical articles against the Interior Minister Ramil UsubovRamil UsubovRamil Idris oglu Usubov is the current Minister of Internal Affairs of Republic of Azerbaijan.- Early life :Usubov was born in 1948 in Khojali Rayon of Azerbaijan. In 1948, he completed special school of militsia named after N. Rzayev in Baku and graduated from Academy of Internal Affairs of USSR...
, or they were going to kill me like Elmar Husseinov [investigative journalist, murdered on March 2, 2005]... They called my mother and threatened to murder the entire family if I did not stop writing.... On September 31, several unidentified, armed people kidnapped my father, blindfolded him, and took him to some kind of a country house. I received a phone call demanding that I stop publication of my newspapers or I would loose (sic) my father... The next morning I announced the closure of the papers. Only then my father was released.
The "Khojaly Massacre" allegations
On March 6, 2007, Nizami Bahmanov, head of Azerbaijani community of Karabakh, complained that Eynulla Fatullayev had, in an interview published on a website, given "false information" that the Khojaly massacreKhojaly Massacre
The Khojaly Massacre was the killing of hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from the town of Khojaly on 25–26 February 1992 by the Armenian and Russian armed forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
had been committed by the Azerbaijani army and not by Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
. Fatullayev said he did not hold an interview with the website and called it propaganda against him. On March 1, 2007, 70-80 people had held a protest outside the editorial office of Fatullayev and raised posters that accused him of being a Dashnak (Armenian) agent and calling for Fatullayev to be stripped of his citizenship. After the reading the resolution, the participants threw eggs at the editorial office, breaking two windows. The police suppressed the protest. On May 31, the Azerbaijani Union of War Veterans expressed its disapproval against Fatullayev's article about the Khojaly massacre.
Fatullayev was charged with slandering the army and sentenced to eight and a half years' imprisonment, a term he is currently serving in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
. Amnesty International described the case as "trumped up charges after being critical of the government."
On 30 December 2009, prison officials alleged that they found 0.22 grams of heroin in Fatullayev's cell, a crime for which he was later sentenced to an additional two and a half years' imprisonment. Amnesty International again described the charges as "fabricated."
The European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
has ordered Azerbaijan to release Fatullayev and to pay him EUR 25,000 in "moral damages".
International attention
In 2009, Fatullayev was awarded an CPJ International Press Freedom Award for "defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment."On 24 May 2011, UK journalists including Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
of Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
and John Mulholland, editor of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, joined Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
in issuing a "mass tweet
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
" on Fatullayev's behalf; the journalists photographed themselves with placards reading “Eynulla Fatullayevi azad et!”—meaning “Free Eynulla Fatullayev!” in Azeri—and tweeted the photographs to President Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...
. Fatullayev received a full pardon two days later, and he was released after serving four years of his eight-year sentence. He attributed his release to the work of Amnesty International activists, saying, "In my opinion, you saved me. Thank you to all those who tweeted."