 Professional Background
Eynulla Fatullayev is the editor of Gündelike Azerbaijan and the Russian language Realny Azerbaijan who is serving a sentence of eight and a half years’ imprisonment for an article published in Realny Azerbaijan. There are widespread concerns that his sentence may be linked to his investigation into the murder of editor Elmar Huseynov in 2005.
Current Status
Charged with terrorism and inciting ethnic hatred, Eynulla Fatullayev was convicted for an article that was published in his newspaper in which he argued that Azerbaijan’s support of the U.S. position on Iraq makes Azerbaijan more likely to be attacked by Iran. In the article he also mentions some possible Azeri targets of such an attack. On October 20, 2007, he was handed an eight-and-a-half -year sentence, which was upheld by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court on June 3, 2008. The sentence encompasses charges of tax evasion as well. Authorities seized all of Realny Azerbaijan’s assets and imposed a large fine equivalent to US $58,000.
Eynulla Fatullayev has staged protests within prison against political imprisonment and poor prison conditions and, according to his lawyer, was held in solitary confinement as a consequence. Fatullayev is currently being held at the Correctional Facility No. 12.
Case History
Eynulla Fatullayev has suffered arrest and imprisonment on a number of occasions in recent years. At the time of his sentencing in October 2007, he was already serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence, handed down on April 2007, for libel and insult for an article posted anonymously on the Internet. Although the piece was attributed to him, he denies being the author.
In September 2006 Fatullayev was convicted and handed a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay fines on charges of defamation and insult against the interior minister. An article published in Realny Azerbaijan accused the minister of having links with a former official on trial for his alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Elmar Huseynov, who was the editor of Monitor. He was killed in 2005 and his murder remains unsolved.
Eynulla Fatullayev and his family have also suffered death threats that reportedly escalated after he reported on Huseynov’s murder. Fatullayev himself previously wrote for Monitor, and has consistently maintained that the Baku authorities were behind the murder. In September 2008, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a report on the Huseynov killing and Fatullayev’s subsequent harassment. |
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