CE chief urges to release jailed Azeri journalist
The Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland has
expressed concern about reports saying an Azerbaijani newspaper
editor has been found guilty of the charges of drug possession and
sentenced to an additional two and a half years of
imprisonment.
Jagland said that this April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that there had been violations of the freedom of expression in regard of Eynulla Fatullayev’s first two convictions, and ordered his immediate release from prison. "I call on the government of Azerbaijan to comply with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights."
"I will continue to closely follow this case. Azerbaijan is a member state of the Council of Europe and therefore legally bound to respect voluntarily accepted standards on human rights, democracy and the rule of law," the CE secretary general added.
Fatullayev was found in possession of heroin in his jail cell last December. He claimed the drugs had been planted.
The editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani-language daily Gundalik Azerbaijan was sentenced in 2007 to eight-and-a-half years in prison on charges on defamation, incitement of ethnic hatred, threatening with terror and tax evasion.*
Jagland said that this April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that there had been violations of the freedom of expression in regard of Eynulla Fatullayev’s first two convictions, and ordered his immediate release from prison. "I call on the government of Azerbaijan to comply with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights."
"I will continue to closely follow this case. Azerbaijan is a member state of the Council of Europe and therefore legally bound to respect voluntarily accepted standards on human rights, democracy and the rule of law," the CE secretary general added.
Fatullayev was found in possession of heroin in his jail cell last December. He claimed the drugs had been planted.
The editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani-language daily Gundalik Azerbaijan was sentenced in 2007 to eight-and-a-half years in prison on charges on defamation, incitement of ethnic hatred, threatening with terror and tax evasion.*
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