Journalist Under Fire - RELEASED!
UPDATE: Former prisoner of conscience and human rights defender Eynulla Fatullayev was released on May 26, 2011 after a presidential pardon and is now at home with his family.
Amnesty International has led an international campaign for his release and named him a prisoner of conscience after his arrest and imprisonment in April 2007 on trumped-up charges of terrorism and defamation.
He has been in prison ever since on a variety of charges - from terrorism (for an article he wrote in his cell) to tax evasion. Although the European Court for Human Rights has found these charges against Fatullayev unfounded, Azerbaijan is keeping Fatullayev behind bars because of a fabricated narcotics charge.
Eynulla Fatullayev's initial "crime" was visiting the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh (de jure part of Azerbaijan but de facto Armenian land) where he investigated the 1992 killing of ethnic Azeris during the Armenian takeover of the village Khojalu. An article Fatullayev wrote suggested that Azerbaijani forces shared blame in the massacre.
Besides being a courageous journalist, Fatullayev is one of few Azerbaijani voices who has advocated for dialogue with Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The arrest and imprisonment of Eynulla Fatullayev are the culmination of years of harassment by the Azerbaijani government against him and his newspapers.
Eynulla Fatullayev has a record of outspoken journalism. He worked for the controversial opposition newspaper Monitor, which closed after the unresolved murder of its editor Elmar Hüseynov in March 2005. He also started the Azeri-language newspaper Gündelik Azarbaycan (Azerbaijan Daily) and the Russian-language newspaper Realny Azerbaydzhan (Real Azerbaijan), which has become known for criticizing government officials, especially the Interior Ministry.
In 2007, he faced death threats after reporting that high-ranking officials ordered a criminal gang to kill Elmar Hüseynov. On April 20, 2007, he was arrested, charged with libel, tried and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment by the Yasamal District Court, based on comments posted on a website in February that were attributed to him. That evening, a colleague who testified in Eynulla Fatullayev's defense was assaulted by two men he identified as being in the courtroom that day. Eynulla Fatullayev has since been sentenced to an additional eight and a half years' imprisonment on charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic hatred and tax evasion.
On June 23, 2008 Eynulla Fatullayev's parents visited him in Prison No. 12. Later that year on December 5, Emin Fatullayev, the father of Eynulla Fatullayev, visited his son again in prison. Eynulla Fatullayev's father, Emin Fatullayev, asked Amnesty International to pass on a message from Eynulla. Apparently, they have received over 5,000 cards and letters from all over the world and they are very touched by all the messages.
In December 2009, as the European Court for Human Rights was reviewing Fatullayev's case, Eynulla Fatullayev was charged with possessing illegal drugs. On April 22, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights said that Eynulla Fatullayev was wrongfully imprisoned and asked Azerbaijan to release him immediately. In July 2010, Fatullayev was sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment for possession of drugs. In November 2010, however, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court annulled the charges of defamation, terrorism, and incitement to racial hatred, in line with European Court of Human Rights' decision.
Following a presidential pardon, he was finally released on May 26, 2011. Amnesty International welcomes this decision and considers it as a step in the right direction for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.
