18 December 2007, 00:17
Azerbaijani journalists accuse СЕ Secretary General of excessive tolerance
A group of representatives of Azerbaijani mass media has sent a letter to Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe with a story about heavy working environment for journalists in Azerbaijan. The authors of the letter assert that the CE Secretary General's "loyal" attitude to the authorities of Azerbaijan is contributing to this state of affairs.
The journalists note that the policy of pressure on independent mass media has grown most systematic in the ruling epoch of Ilham Aliev: one journalist was killed, dozens of employees of mass media have been beaten and became invalids, and 8 journalists are still behind the bars. Now, Azerbaijan is the country with the highest number of arrested journalists within the whole OSCE space.
Officials of Azerbaijan file claims and enforce penalties and arrests of journalists for slander. For this reason 42 journalists were forced to leave Azerbaijan, and over 20 more have addressed foreign embassies for shelter.
Recently, the charges of drug dealing, appeals to terrorism and hooliganism are used as pretexts for arresting journalists.
In this connection, the letter expresses regret that Terry Davis "is known as a friend of Ilham Aliev who is destroying his free press." The authors of the document are regretfully stating that Davis' friendship with Aliev is aimed not towards restoration of democratic values but "is disguising antidemocratic steps of Azerbaijani leadership."
The letter is accompanied by certificates confirming the groundlessness of arrest of Ganimat Zakhidov, who was arrested on November 11 on charges of hooliganism.
Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent
