Gov`t not surprised by Amnesty`s award to jailed editor
The head of the Azerbaijan Presidential
Administration socio-political department Ali Hasanov has said the
government does not consider rights watchdog Amnesty
International`s recent conferral of a special award to a jailed
newspaper editor as something extraordinary.
Eynulla Fatullayev, the editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani-language daily Gundalik Azerbaijan newspapers, has been imprisoned for two years. He had been sentenced to eight and a half years in jail on charges of posing a terrorist threat, inciting inter-ethnic and religious rifts, and tax evasion. Amnesty International has granted an award to Fatullayev for being an endangered journalist. During the awarding ceremony held in London, the rights organization called on the Azerbaijani government to set him free and to end what it called the strangling of free speech in the country.
Hasanov described it as normal that "one may be punished in one society but awarded in another."
"It turns out that this man had more served the people and centers he received the award from and endeavored to the detriment of the society he lived and functioned in," he noted.
Hasanov added that, on many occasions in the past, persons who committed crimes against the Azerbaijani state and attempted to split the country apart have been named heroes in Europe.
Eynulla Fatullayev, the editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani-language daily Gundalik Azerbaijan newspapers, has been imprisoned for two years. He had been sentenced to eight and a half years in jail on charges of posing a terrorist threat, inciting inter-ethnic and religious rifts, and tax evasion. Amnesty International has granted an award to Fatullayev for being an endangered journalist. During the awarding ceremony held in London, the rights organization called on the Azerbaijani government to set him free and to end what it called the strangling of free speech in the country.
Hasanov described it as normal that "one may be punished in one society but awarded in another."
"It turns out that this man had more served the people and centers he received the award from and endeavored to the detriment of the society he lived and functioned in," he noted.
Hasanov added that, on many occasions in the past, persons who committed crimes against the Azerbaijani state and attempted to split the country apart have been named heroes in Europe.
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