Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the illegal arrests of Rauf Arifoglu and Etibar Djebrayiloglu, respectively editor-in-chief and special correspondent of the opposition daily Yeni Musavat, and by the illegal banning of the independent newspaper Uch Noqte. We fear that these and other incidents constitute an organized government campaign to stifle independent journalism in Azerbaijan during the run-up to the November 5 parliamentary elections.
Dear Mr. Mirzorian, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly disturbed by the arrest and continued detention of Vahram Aghajanian, a journalist with the newspaper Tasnerord Nahang in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, and a contributor to the Yerevan, Armenia-based paper Iravunk.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent police assault on two journalists from the Baku daily Bu gun and by the subsequent raid on the newspaper’s editorial office. This is the second incident during the past month in which Azeri police have attacked local journalists, suggesting a pattern of gross abuse of authority and reckless disregard for press freedom in your country.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent police assault on two journalists from the Baku daily Bu gun and by the subsequent raid on the newspaper’s editorial office. This is the second incident during the past month in which Azeri police have attacked local journalists, suggesting a pattern of gross abuse of authority and reckless disregard for press freedom in your country.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent closure of the Baku-based magazine Monitor Weekly and by your continued refusal to review the legality of the Interior Ministry’s October 1999 takeover of the independent station Sara Radio/TV.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in AZERBAIJAN. New York, May 4, 2000 – Seventeen journalists were beaten by police while covering an opposition demonstration on April 29 in the capital city of Baku, according to the Journalists’ Trade Union and other sources in Azerbaijan.
By Chrystyna Lapychak Wars in Yugoslavia and Chechnya dominated regional and international headlines in 1999. The conflicts raised the journalists’ death toll in the region and prompted crackdowns, as governments blocked access to war zones and engaged in propaganda campaigns.