HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eynulla Emin oglu Fatullayev (; born 25 September 1976) is an Azerbaijani journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief of the news website Haqqin.az. He was the editor-in-chief of the independent
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
-language weekly ''Realny Azerbaijan'' and Azerbaijani-language daily ''Gündəlik Azərbaycan'' newspapers. He was imprisoned for four years in
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
for his criticism of government's policies and for his comments on the Khojaly massacre.Fatullayev: 'I'm Still Here -- Alive, Working, and Telling the Truth'
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
. October 03, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2016
His sentence was condemned by
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
,
International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...
, and the
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
, and
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
named him a
prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...
and 2011 "priority case."


Career

Eynulla Fatullayev served as the editor of the ''Realny Azerbaijan'' (Russian for ''Real Azerbaijan'') and ''Gündəlik Azərbaycan'' (Azerbaijani for ''Azerbaijan Daily''). His editorship was notable for its criticism of the Azerbaijani government and its policies. In both publications, he criticized the government for its violations of press freedom and human rights. He has also been criticised for his article about the 2003 Azerbaijani elections which were accused of being fraudulent.


Government pressure


Persecution

Threats, intimidation and violence have been used against Eynulla Fatullayev to influence his journalism, including death threats, beatings, legal prosecution, and the kidnapping of family members in Azerbaijan. On 26 July 2004, he was severely beaten with blows to the head on a street in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
for his articles critical of the government. Eynulla Fatullayev was also called to face a fine of 25,000 Euros and to be jailed for "insulting the name and dignity" of a deputy in the ruling party, Siyavush Novruzov. In early August 2006, Minister Usubov filed three criminal defamation suits against Fatullayev in response to articles titled “The revenge of the antibiotic,” “The failure of the antibiotic,” and “The antibiotic and journalists,” published in July and August, which alleged ties between the
Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...
official Ramil Usubov and Haji Mammadov, a former Interior Ministry official who was on trial for murder and kidnapping. On 26 September 2006, Judge Malakhat Abdulmanafova of the Yasamal District Court in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
convicted Fatullayev of criminal libel and insult and sentenced him to a conditional two-year prison term, ordered him to publish a retraction, and pay a fine of US$11,300 in moral damages to Usubov. Fatullayev suspects this was in retaliation to his critical publications against the Interior Ministry. On 1 October 2006, Fatullayev was forced to suspend publication of both papers after his father was kidnapped. The kidnappers threatened to kill Fatullayev, as well as his father, if Fatullayev continued to publish the papers. The kidnapping had been preceded by numerous phone threats against Fatullayev and his family. Fatullayev told
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
:
Starting on September 27, I personally, my family, and the paper’s commercial director got frequent phone calls warning us to stop writing critical articles against the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, or they were going to kill me like Elmar Husseinov nvestigative journalist, murdered on 2 March 2005.. They called my mother and threatened to murder the entire family if I did not stop writing.... On September 31, several unidentified, armed people kidnapped my father, blindfolded him, and took him to some kind of a country house. I received a phone call demanding that I stop publication of my newspapers or I would loose (sic) my father... The next morning I announced the closure of the papers. Only then my father was released.


The Karabakh Diary and statements on Khojaly Massacre

On 6 March 2007, Nizami Bahmanov, head of Azerbaijani community of Karabakh, complained that Eynulla Fatullayev had, in an interview published on a website, given "false information" that the Khojaly massacre had been committed by the Azerbaijani army and not by
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
. Fatullayev said he did not hold an interview with the website and called it propaganda against him. On 1 March 2007, 70-80 people had held a protest outside the editorial office of Fatullayev and raised posters that accused him of being a Dashnak (Armenian) agent and calling for Fatullayev to be stripped of his citizenship. After the reading the resolution, the participants threw eggs at the editorial office, breaking two windows. The police suppressed the protest. On May 31, the Azerbaijani Union of War Veterans expressed its disapproval against Fatullayev's article about the Khojaly massacre. Fatullayev was charged with slandering the army and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment, a term he served in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
. Amnesty International described the case as "trumped up charges after being critical of the government." However, in his statement to the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
Fatullayev noted that in the article "The Karabakh Diary", he had merely conveyed the statements of a local Armenian, who had told Fatullayev his version of the events during the interview. Fatullayev claimed that his article did not directly accuse any Azerbaijani national of committing any crime and that in his article, there was no statement asserting that any of the Khojaly victims had been killed or mutilated by Azerbaijani fighters. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that "although "The Karabakh Diary" might have contained certain exaggerated or provocative assertions, the author did not cross the limits of journalistic freedom". The Court also noted that "The Karabakh Diary" did not constitute a piece of investigative journalism focusing specifically on the Khojaly events and considered that Fatullayev's statements about these events were made rather in passing, parallel to the main theme of the article. In 2011, after being released from prison, Eynulla Fatullayev defended his 2005 comments which held Azerbaijani fighters and not Armenians responsible for the 1992 killings in Khojaly and added that the Azerbaijani government has long sought to use the Khojaly events to persecute its opponents, like the first president of Azerbaijan, Ayaz Mutalibov, who is still under criminal investigation for complicity in the Khojaly events. He also mentions Fahmin Hajiyev, the head of Azerbaijan's interior troops of the country, who spent 11 years in prison because of the Khojaly events. Yet in February 2014 in a televised interview to ANS TV Fatullayev said that the Armenians perpetrated a genocide in Khojaly, and that he never questioned that, even in his "Karabakh Diary". He also mentioned that he personally joined a "Justice for Khojaly" rally in Strasbourg.


Imprisonment

While in prison for defamation, additional charges were brought against Fatullayev. In a report about a possible U.S. military strike against Iran, Fatullayev included a list of targets within Azerbaijan, which brought an additional charge of encouraging terrorism. Upon conviction in 2007, he was sentenced to eight and a half years. On 30 December 2009, prison officials alleged that they found 0.22 grams of heroin in Fatullayev's cell, a crime for which he was later sentenced to an additional two and a half years' imprisonment. Amnesty International again described the charges as "fabricated." The
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
has ordered Azerbaijan to release Fatullayev and to pay him EUR 25,000 in "moral damages". Fatullayev was granted a pardon on 26 May 2011.


International attention

In 2009, Fatullayev was awarded an CPJ International Press Freedom Award for "defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment." On 24 May 2011, U.K. journalists including Jon Snow of
Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...
and John Mulholland, editor of ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', joined
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
in issuing a "mass tweet" on Fatullayev's behalf; the journalists photographed themselves with placards reading "Eynulla Fatullayevi azad et!"—meaning "Free Eynulla Fatullayev!" in Azerbaijani—and tweeted the photographs to President
Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...
. Fatullayev received a full pardon two days later, and he was released after serving four years of his eight-year sentence. He attributed his release to the work of Amnesty International activists, saying, "In my opinion, you saved me. Thank you to all those who tweeted." Almost one year after his release,
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
awarded Fatullayev with its 2012 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, which Fatullayev would accept on
World Press Freedom Day The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day or just World Press Day, observed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the righ ...
in
Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
.


End of relationship with Amnesty International

Amnesty International ended its cooperation with Fatullayev, issuing a statement on 23 January 2013, saying Fatullayev had "misled the organization about the source of funding for a project he had requested Amnesty International involvement in". Amnesty International also expressed its belief and concern on that Fatullayev and his site Haqqin.az, is used by the Government of Azerbaijan to discredit European criticism of human rights violations in Azerbaijan. In December 2012, Fatullayev had initiated a research project on human rights abuses in Germany, to which he invited human rights experts, including a spokesperson from Amnesty International, who declined the invitation. Fatullayev had claimed that the project was funded by the Black Sea Trust (BST) of the
German Marshall Fund The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union. Founded in 1972, through a gift from the W ...
. However, Amnesty International's inquiry to the BST revealed that the latter had no involvement in the project, contrary to Fatullayev's assertions. The BST Consultant on Azerbaijan, Mehriban Rahimli, stated that "the mention of BST with this project is not appropriate. BST has not funded or supported this study and its presentation."Amnesty International and Fatullayev condemn each other. ''Contact.az 22 January 2013''
/ref> Furthermore, Fatullayev tried to attract support for the event by falsely claiming that Amnesty International was involved in it. He also circulated an agenda of the event which included details of a speaker from Amnesty International, despite the refusal of the latter to participate. After finding this out Amnesty International cut ties with Fatullayev, criticizing him both for providing misinformation and for attempting to create a misconception of human rights violations by arguing that this phenomenon is as common in Germany as it is in Azerbaijan and using the reports of Amnesty International (their own report) on European countries as an example to prove his point. In response Fatullayev harshly criticized Amnesty’s statement, accusing the group of retaliating for his criticism of the human rights situation in Germany. The organization replied: "While Amnesty International believes his atullayev'sattempt to portray the extent and gravity of human rights abuses in Germany as on a par with violations in Azerbaijan is misleading, the organization entirely respects his right to express his views, on Germany or any other country". As for the funding sources of the event Fatullayev gave no further information or clarification. Amnesty International's statement namely says:
Despite repeated requests, Fatullayev has been unwilling to disclose the true source of his funding. In light of this, Amnesty International has decided to discontinue any collaboration with Eynulla Fatullayev and his organization, the Azerbaijani Public Union for Human Rights. Any claims made by Mr. Fatullayev that Amnesty International is supporter or partner organization for his activities should be disregarded.Amnesty International ends cooperation with Eynulla Fatullayev
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT. 22 January 2013
Turan Information Agency has made the following comment on the case of Fatullayev vs Amnesty International: "It's no secret that in Germany, as in other developed democratic countries, there are issues of corruption and human rights violations. However, the Azerbaijani model of government and public relations is too far from Europe. Therefore, the report by Fatullayev is an attempt from the
Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...
to criticize the human rights situation in
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
society."


See also

* Human Rights in Azerbaijan * Elmar Huseynov * Jabbar Savalan * Rauf Arifoghlu


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatullayev, Eynulla Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Azerbaijan Journalists from Baku Living people Human rights abuses in Azerbaijan Child abduction in Azerbaijan 1976 births Azerbaijani prisoners and detainees Recipients of Azerbaijani presidential pardons