AZERBAIJAN: Two journalists released

28 January 2010

RAN 53/09 - Update #2

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN welcomes the release of the Nota newspaper journalist Faramaz Nozruzoglu (Allahverdiyev), on expiry of his sentence, and Bizim Yol correspondent Mushfig Huseynov, pardoned under presidential decree. International PEN expresses its serious concern about of all those currently detained in violation of their right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Azerbaijan is a state party.

Faramaz Nozruzoglu, was convicted to three months in prison on defamation charges for articles published in Nota. He was imprisoned on 8 October 2009, and released from Penitentiary No. 16 on expiry of his sentence on 8 January 2009. In the same trial, Nota journalists Sardar Alibeili and Ramiz Tagiyev, were also sentenced to four-month imprisonment and six-month conditional sentence, respectively. The charges against all three were filed by the chairman of the local government union Azadlyg Harakatchilari (Freedom Movement), who claimed to have been insulted in six articles published in Nota.

Mushfig Huseynov was arrested on 24 July 2007 and sentenced to six years in prison the following January on charges of ‘accepting a bribe'. His conviction was reduced on appeal to five years. On 25 December 2009 Huseynov was pardoned under a presidential decree, and was released the following day from the Penitentiary Services Specialised Treatment Facility for Prisoners with Tuberculosis, where he spend the last couple of months, as his health had deteriorated considerably in prison.

International PEN has been monitoring the cases of these and other writers and journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan, notably Eynulla Fatullayev, who is currently serving an eight and a half prison sentence on political charges and faces a further three-year prison term if found guilty of recent drug possession charges.

Further information:
For the latest WiPC alert on Fatullayev, see here.
For the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) appeal to free Fatullayev, click here.
For the BBC's country profile on Azerbaijan, see here.