136 journalists jailed worldwide

As of December 1, 2009    |   » Read the accompanying report: "FREELANCERS UNDER FIRE"

New York, October 9, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the prison sentences given to journalists at the weekly newspaper Nota on defamation charges on Thursday.

New York, April 13, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Baku Appeals Court decision today to uphold the convictions of two journalists with the independent weekly Nota Bene on charges of defaming Interior Minister Ramil Usubov in a series of articles that described corruption and infighting in the agency.

The court let stand a January trial court ruling that sentenced reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu to two years in prison and Editor-in-Chief Sardar Alibeili to 18 months of “corrective labor.” Their legal representatives were not present in court today because the hearing took place earlier than announced, Ilham Tumas, founder of Nota Bene, told the Azeri news Web site Mediaforum. He said Novruzoglu and Alibeili don’t know yet whether they will appeal to the Supreme Court.

New York, January 31, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal libel convictions of two journalists in a suit filed by Azerbaijan’s interior minister who has launched a barrage of defamation suits to silence independent media.

Reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu and Editor-in-chief Sardar Alibeili of the weekly independent newspaper Nota Bene were sentenced to two years in prison and 18 months’ corrective labor respectively by a Baku court on Tuesday. Judge Muslim Aliyev of the Narimanovsky Court convicted them of defamation under Articles 147 and 148 of the Criminal Code, according to local press reports.