Azerbaijan / Europe & Central Asia

  
CPJ
CPJ's annual International Press Freedom Awards dinner took place at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images for CPJ)

Awardees to their colleagues: Buck the system

The Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria might seem like an odd venue to stage a call for resistance. Nine hundred people in tuxedos and gowns. Champagne and cocktails. Bill Cunningham snapping photos. This combination is generally more likely to coax a boozy nostalgia than foment a revolution. But the journalists honored last night at…

Read More ›

Azerbaijani journalist’s death requires investigation

New York, November 23, 2011– The demise of freelance journalist Rafiq Tagi in a Baku hospital today following his stabbing four days ago by unknown assailants, must be fully investigated, said the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Read More ›

Independent editor imprisoned in Azerbaijan

New York, November 1, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the prosecution and imprisonment of Avaz Zeynally, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Khural, and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release him immediately.

Read More ›

Citing ethnicity, Azerbaijan bars photojournalist

New York, July 7, 2011–Diana Markosian, a freelance photographer for Bloomberg Markets magazine was denied entry to Azerbaijan last week by authorities who cited her ethnicity as a reason, international news reports said. 

Read More ›

Two foreign reporters brutally assaulted in Azerbaijan

New York, June 16, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the vicious beating in Baku of international journalists Amanda Erickson and Celia Davies, and calls on the authorities to bring their attackers to justice.

Read More ›

Video: Eynulla Fatullayev home at last

Eynulla Fatullayev is finally home after four long years in an Azerbaijani jail. “It’s a miracle for me,” he told U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. RFE/RL filmed the editor at home immediately after his release:

Read More ›

CJES

At last, a free man: Fatullayev talks with CPJ

Independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a CPJ award recipient, spent four years in prison on spurious charges of defamation, terrorism, tax evasion, and drug possession. All were fabricated to prevent him from publishing his searing exposés critical of the Azerbaijani government. On Thursday, after years of intense advocacy by CPJ and others, Fatullayev received a presidential…

Read More ›

CPJ welcomes release of Fatullayev

New York, May 26, 2011–The release today of independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev in Azerbaijan on a presidential pardon is a welcome and well overdue development, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Read More ›

Swedish television crew detained, deported

New York, April 18, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed dismay today over Azerbaijan’s deportation of a Swedish television crew that had arrived in Baku to film a documentary on human rights and freedom of speech. CPJ urged Azerbaijani authorities to stop obstructing the international press.

Read More ›

Another Azadlyg reporter attacked in Baku

New York, April 5, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a series of attacks in capital Baku against reporters for the pro-opposition daily Azadlyg (Freedom), and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to immediately investigate the incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Read More ›