The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, will hold a hearing on “Azerbaijan’s Persecution of RFE/RL Reporter Khadija Ismayilova” on Wednesday, December 16.
In its statement the Commission noted:
In December 2014 the government of Azerbaijan arrested investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova on spurious charges and subsequently raided the offices of her employer, U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). After a lengthy trial that was widely condemned by the international community for numerous irregularities, in September Ms. Ismayilova was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. Her appeal was denied on November 25 and the RFE/RL Baku Bureau has remained shuttered by the Government of Azerbaijan.
As Helsinki Commission Chair Rep. Chris Smith noted at the time of her sentencing, “[Ms. Ismayilova] is being robbed of her freedom for exposing corruption within the Azerbaijani government. Her arrest last December and the subsequent shutdown of the RFE/RL bureau in Baku were direct attacks on media freedom.”
Ms. Ismayilova is known for her well-documented investigative reports into the wealth of the senior leadership of the Government of Azerbaijan and had suffered harassment from the security services for some time before her arrest.
This hearing will examine the conduct of the trial against Ms. Ismayilova and whether or not the U.S. Government has done all it can to secure her release and to address the closing of the Baku bureau of RFE/RL.
The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:
- Nenad Pejic, Vice President / Editor-in-Chief of Programming, RFE/RL
- Delphine Halgand, U.S. Director, Reporters Without Borders
- T. Kumar, International Advocacy Director, Amnesty International USA
- Shelly Han, Policy Advisor, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe -25D-
Politics
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Extradition of the head of Azel TV website Afgan Sadygov from Georgia to Azerbaijan has been suspended for a week by the European Court of Human Rights. Tamta Mikeladze, the head of the Georgian Centre for Social Justice, which provides legal protection for Sadygov, wrote about it in facebook.
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A candidate in the municipal elections for the 23rd Nasimi-Sabail electoral district, activist Djamila Alisheva, has reported administrative barriers in conducting her campaign. She claims that the district election commission is refusing to provide the necessary forms for her authorized representatives.
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On January 15, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of Afghan Sadigov, the founder of the Azel TV website, who had protested his extradition to Azerbaijan. Sadigov’s wife, Sevinj Sadigova, stated that this was the final judicial instance in Georgia making a decision on the case, Turan reported. On the other hand, lawyer Mariam Kvelashvili informed Turan that the defense would continue legal steps to prevent the extradition of Afghan Sadigov. According to his wife, Afghan has been on hunger strike for 117 days, and his health is critical.
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