Although President Heydar Aliyev claimed to be the “guarantor of freedom of speech and the press in Azerbaijan,” his government continued to crack down on independent and opposition media while suppressing public criticism. Journalists who dared to criticize officials suffered harassment, defamation lawsuits, imprisonment, and physical assaults. Publications faced financial pressure and closures, as well…
New York, October 17, 2001—CPJ welcomes the release from prison of El’mar Guseynov, founder of the independent Russian-language weekly Bakinskiy Bul’var, and Shahbaz Huduoglu, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Milletin Sesi. On October 16, CPJ sent a letter to President Heidar Aliyev protesting the cases against the journalists, who were found guilty in September of…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by your government’s recent use of jailings and forcible closures of media outlets to silence criticism of government officials. In particular, we are alarmed by the imprisonment of El’mar Guseynov, founder of the independent Russian-language weekly Bakinskiy Bul’var, and Shahbaz Huduoglu, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Milletin Sesi. We are also deeply troubled by the closure of both papers.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by your government’s unrelenting harassment of the independent Baku station ABA Television. The station recently closed its doors, apparently under government pressure, and Tax Ministry officials have since confiscated some of ABA’s equipment.
By Ann CooperIN THE COMMUNITY OF JOURNALISTS WHO HAVE CHRONICLED the past decade’s worst wars, the news last May was devastating. Two of the world’s most dedicated war correspondents, Kurt Schork of Reuters and Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of The Associated Press, were killed in a rebel ambush in Sierra Leone, a country where…
POLITICAL REFORMS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, along with the advent of democratic governments in Croatia and Serbia, brightened the security prospects for journalists in Central Europe and the Balkans. In contrast, Russian’s new government imposed press restrictions, and authoritarian regimes entrenched themselves in other countries of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Central Asia, further threatening…
In North Korea, listening to a foreign broadcast is a crime punishable by death. In Colombia, right-wing paramilitary forces are suspected in the murders of three journalists in 2000. Meanwhile, paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño was formally charged with the 1999 murder of political satirist Jaime Garzón.
PRESIDENT HEIDAR ALIYEV AND OTHER AZERBAIJANI OFFICIALS repeatedly proclaimed their support for freedoms of association and expression, but the November parliamentary elections highlighted the regime’s authoritarianism. The government banned opposition rallies, harassed opposition leaders, and temporarily suspended several opposition parties from the contest. International observers found multiple problems with the election itself, which was nevertheless…