Statement on the occasion of the National Press Day

The Institute for Reporters" Freedom and Safety (IRFS) condemns the Azerbaijani authorities for their deliberate policy to destroy freedom of speech and today, on the National Press Day, it reiterates its calls to remove all restrictions on the freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.

IRFS is seriously concerned about yet another surge of the authorities" hatred towards freedom of expression, which has seriously manifested itself in the first half of this year.

The illegal detention and torture and subsequent conviction of prominent journalist Mehman Huseynov, the fabricated arrest and subsequent tragic death of imprisoned blogger Mehman Galandarov, the abduction in Tbilisi of the Georgia-based investigative journalist Afghan Mukhtarli by the special services of Azerbaijan, and the arrest of the head of an independent internet television Aziz Orujov have added to the already large list of prisoners of conscience. A lot of employees of independent media outlets and NGOs are again being summoned to the prosecutor"s office under the pretext of resumption of a criminal investigation against independent NGOs and media launched back in 2014, and some journalists are again being banned from leaving the country.

Apart from the new arrests and persecution of journalists, in recent months the authorities have begun, through the manipulated judicial system, blocking virtually all leading independent and opposition sites.

The legislature under the control of the President, i.e. the Parliament has also toughened sanctions for defamation, hammering the final nail in the coffin of the hopes for the decriminalization of punishments in this sphere.

The first independent Azerbaijani newspaper, Akinchi (Cultivator), was issued by prominent Azerbaijani journalist Hasan Bay Zardabi on July 22, 1875, but 142 years later, no independent or oppositional newspaper is published in modern and independent Azerbaijan. There is no independent television or radio broadcaster left in the country, and the operating private, state and public TV and radio broadcasters are under the full control of the authorities and play the role of a mouthpiece propagandizing the cult of the current ruling regime.

The authorities" refusal to effectively investigate the murders of journalists Elmar Huseynov, Alim Kazimli, Novruzali Mammadov, Rafig Tagi and Rasim Aliyev, as well as the recent death in jail of blogger Mehman Galandarov shows that there is a prevailing atmosphere of impunity in the country for the violent death of journalists.

The absence of a free advertising market in the country, the lack of an independent infrastructure for the production and distribution of printed products, as well as the inability to receive foreign grants and other logistical assistance for the development of the media has seriously undermined the financial situation of the handful of remaining publications, putting many of them on the brink of closure. Simultaneously, the Azerbaijani authorities, in the person of the President of the country, provide financial assistance for the pro-government media and free apartments to loyal journalists, trying to present these actions as a state support to the media and journalists.

"These actions by the authorities are nothing more than a banal bribery of journalists and making the media inclined to cooperation, so that they turn a blind eye to the colossal corruption and nepotism in the country," IRFS CEO Emin Huseynov has said. "The tragedy of today"s domestic journalism is that journalists, who expose corruption and nepotism, are given a free prison cell or a free grave in the cemetery. By these actions, the Azerbaijani authorities show that they are nothing but the executioners of the freedom of expression," Huseynov summed up.

IRFS calls on the international community to closely follow and to timely and adequately respond to the repressive actions of the Azerbaijani authorities against freedom of expression. IRFS welcomes the latest resolution of the European Parliament on the abduction of journalist Afgan Mukhtarli and the situation with the independent Azerbaijani media, the statement of the US State Department on the death of blogger Mehman Galandarov, and the statement of EEAS on the arrest of Mehman Huseynov. IRFS also calls on the governments of democratic countries and international institutions to consider application of specific sanctions against representatives of the authorities involved in the repressions.

IRFS calls on the Council of Europe, OSCE and the United Nations to urge the Azerbaijani authorities to strictly comply with the country"s international obligations in the field of freedom of expression and other fundamental human rights.

IRFS calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release journalists Mehman Huseynov, Afgan Mukhtarli, Seymur Hazi, Aziz Orujov, Nijat Aliyev, Araz Guliyev, Fikrat Ibishbayli, Afgan Sadigov, Elchin Ismayilli, Javid Shiraliyev and Faig Amirli, bloggers Rashad Ramazanov and Ilkin Rustemzade, writers Saday Shakarli and Tofig Hasanov, as well as graffiti activists Giyas Ibrahimov and Bayram Mammadov, and to put an end to all kinds of pressure on freedom of expression in the country.