Azerbaijani journalist’s murderers remain at large on second anniversary
New York, March 1, 2007—Two years after the contract-style assassination of opposition editor Elmar Huseynov, his murderers remain at large. When Huseynov, an editor and founder of the newsweekly Monitor, was gunned down in his Baku apartment building on March 2, 2005, President Ilham Aliyev called the murder a “provocation against the Azerbaijani state” and…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Europe and Central Asia Analysis
Getting away with murder in the former Soviet states By Nina Ognianova The assassin in a baseball cap who gunned down Anna Politkovskaya outside her Moscow apartment used a silencer. But reverberations from the contract-style slaying of Russia’s icon of investigative journalism were felt around the world.
Attacks on the Press 2006: Azerbaijan
AZERBAIJAN Two prominent journalists were viciously assaulted in unsolved attacks, and the 2005 murder of another top reporter was wrapped in questions. President Ilham Aliyev and his allies used the courts as a hammer against the independent media, filing criminal defamation lawsuits, lodging spurious drug charges, and imprisoning critical journalists. Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, the…
Ex-officer says he plotted editor’s murder; some are skeptical
New York, July 27, 2006—A former Interior Ministry officer facing trial on a series of charges including murder and kidnapping said in court on Tuesday that he took part in another, unrelated killing—the March 2005 murder of Elmar Huseynov, founder and editor of the Baku-based opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, according to local and international…
A year after editor’s murder in Baku, case appears to grow cold
New York, March 1, 2006—One year after the founder and editor of the opposition weekly Monitor was slain in the entrance of his apartment building in Baku, Azerbaijan, no suspects are in custody and many colleagues and relatives believe the government’s investigation is on the wrong track. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Azerbaijan
AZERBAIJAN The murder of a prominent editor, detentions of other journalists, police abuses, and bureaucratic obstruction curtailed independent reporting in the run-up to a November 6 parliamentary election that saw President Ilham Aliyev’s ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party and its allies sweep to victory. International observers said the vote was neither fair nor free, citing improper…
Investigators name chief suspect in murder of opposition editor
New York, May 4, 2005—Investigators in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, said late yesterday that a 46-year-old Georgian citizen is the chief suspect in the March 2 murder of Elmar Huseynov, founder and editor of the opposition news magazine Monitor. The National Security Ministry (MNB), which is conducting the inquiry into Huseynov’s killing, identified the suspect as…
Arrests in the murder of opposition editor met with suspicion
New York, April 8, 2005—Investigators in the capital, Baku, announced late yesterday that they had detained six suspects in the March 2 murder of Elmar Huseynov, founder and editor of the opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, according to local and international press reports.
After outcry, president pardons imprisoned opposition editor
New York, March 21, 2005—Facing international pressure, President Ilham Aliyev pardoned the imprisoned editor of an opposition newspaper yesterday as part of a decree ordering the release of dozens of political prisoners, according to local and international press reports. Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of Yeni Musavat, had been jailed for 17 months after his arrest during…