The CPJ called on the Azerbaijani authorities to investigate the latest cases of violence against journalists

Baku/03.07.23/Turan: The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) called on the Azerbaijani authorities to create conditions for unhindered coverage of protests and investigate police violence against press representatives.

Since June 22, Azerbaijani police have detained, beaten, threatened or otherwise obstructed the work of at least six journalists covering environmental protests in the village of Seyudlu in western Azerbaijan, the statement of the CPJ.

According to media reports, after protests broke out against the local gold mine in the village of Seyudlu on June 20, the police restricted access to the village starting on June 22, allowing only local residents and representatives of pro-government media to pass there.

"The attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to suppress the coverage and thus censor the ongoing environmental protests and police brutality are disgusting and must be stopped immediately," said Gulnoza Sayeed, coordinator of the CPJ programs for Europe and Central Asia. "The authorities should allow all journalists to cover newsworthy events and should openly investigate all allegations of police violence and threats against members of the press."

On June 22, at a checkpoint in Seyudlu  the police denied entry to Nargiz Absalamova, a reporter for the independent news website "Abzas Media", Nigar Mubariz, an independent reporter for the Azerbaijani service of the "Voice of America" broadcasting company, and Elsever Muradzada, a reporter who covers social issues on his Facebook and TikTok accounts.

According to the journalists, the journalists entered the village by another way and reported that two uniformed police officers and seven or eight people in civilian clothes detained them and took their phones.

Journalists  were expelled from the village with the use of violence, their phones were returned to them only after they were forcibly brought to the district center.

On June 22, employees of the State Mobilization and Conscription Service called Elmaddin Shamilzade, an independent journalist who publishes on Tiktok and Facebook, after he posted a video with the faces of police officers in Seyudlu the day before.

The officers demanded proof of his release from military service, although he received a deferral from conscription in 2022 for 4 years due to university studies.

The next day, the police of the Yasamal district of the capital Baku detained Shamilzade and demanded that the video be deleted. When the journalist refused, three policemen put physical pressure on him. Shamilzade said he lost consciousness for about five minutes, and when he woke up, deleted the video from Facebook.

On June 23, the police of the Binagadi district of Baku summoned Ulvi Hasanli, the editor-in-chief of "Seyudlu", after he posted photos  of two policemen who detained Absalamova, Mubariz and Muradzade on Facebook. The police demanded that he delete the post, but he refused and was released after four hours. 

On the same evening, the security staff of the US Embassy in Baku escorted Hasanli out of the embassy territory after he broadcast live three Azerbaijani activists protesting at a ceremony at the diplomatic mission in connection with the events in Seudlu.

Hasanli and the activists were detained outside the embassy and later released.

On June 25, a reporter for the independent TV channel "Toplum TV", Farid Ismailov, was interviewing residents of the village of Chovdar, neighboring Soyudlu, when two plainclothes men who introduced themselves as policemen approached him and tried to take away his camera, saying that local officials had banned reports from the village.

Local authorities threatened him to dismiss his relatives from work if he published his video reports.

CPJ's emails to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, the Baku City Police Department, as well as to the Yasamal, Binagadi and Nasimi district police departments did not receive responses.

A representative of the US Embassy in Baku responded to the CPJ's request by e-mail about Hasanli's removal from the premises, stating: "Only the official part of the event on June 23 was open to the media and filming" and "the US Embassy supports fundamental freedoms, including the right to protest and freedom of speech." ---06B---