U.S. condemns Eynullah Fatullayev’s conviction

U.S. Department of State has issued a statement condemning Azerbaijani court’s decision to sentence Eynulla Fatullayev, one of Azerbaijan's most prominent investigative journalists, founder and chief editor of the now-closed Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azarbaycan newspapers, to additional 2,5 years of imprisonment. 

“The United States is concerned by the court ruling. We note that the OSCE Representative on Media Freedom characterized the drug charges on which Fatullayev was convicted as "highly improbable," and we join the OSCE Representative and others in calling for his release. We also note the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights that acquitted Fatullayev of charges raised against him in 2007,” said in the statement.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, condemned the court’s decision, releasing a statement yesterday. "I am deeply disappointed with [court’s] sentencing, which is yet another attempt at silencing free media in Azerbaijan on questionable criminal charges," she said in the statement.

U.S. Department of State urged the Government of Azerbaijan to fully respect press freedoms. “The United States urges the Government of Azerbaijan to fully respect press freedoms, including the right to investigate and freely publish via both traditional and new internet-based media. As Secretary Clinton noted in Baku during her July 4 visit, when members of civil society are respected and allowed to work free of intimidation, democracies flourish and societies prosper. As a partner, the United States stands ready to assist the people and government of Azerbaijan in making the necessary reforms for democratic and economic progress. The conviction of Eynullah Fatullayev is not a step in the right direction,” said in the statement of the U.S. Department of States.

On Tuesday, the district court in Baku sentenced Fatullayev to 2.5 years in a maximum-security prison colony on drug possession charges. This decision was strongly condemned by various organisations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Reporters without Borders, the European Union, and the Norwegian Embassy in Baku.

Leader of the Liberal Party of Azerbaijan Lala Shovket Gajieva said that the additional 2,5 years sentenced in a verdict to Fatullayev, are nothing but an expression and manifestation of disrespect and contempt to the European Court of Human Rights, which earlier had demanded that Eynulla Fatullayev be immediately released from custody and overturned Fatullayev's initial sentencing.

“It’s impossible to suppress and knock down any one. The authorities should realize this. It’s impossible to turn the country into the country of slaves. No one could to it ever. And today’s these harsh verdicts and repressions against Eynullah Fatullayev can’t break him; on the contrary, this will make him stronger and will blow up his hatred towards authorities,” Lala Shovket Gajieva said.