Brussels, 02/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 1 September, the European Union criticised the seven and a half year prison sentence of the Azeri journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, for incitement to suicide.
In a joint press release, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said they thought that the punishment for this “prominent journalist” was “a sign of the difficult situation faced by independent journalists in Azerbaijan”.
They called on the authorities of Azerbaijan to review Ismayilova's case “in a transparent and fair process, in full respect of the country's international commitments, including on media freedom”.
Mogherini and Hahn said that Ismayilova's trial raised “fundamental questions on the impartiality of the court and the legality of the accusation, as witnessed by the international monitors who were present during the trial”. The access of international and national observers was, “as in similar cases, irregular and arbitrary, despite regular requests”, Mogherini and Hahn regretted.
Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said that he would ask the authorities for all the details of the judgment and for the evidence presented against Ismayilova. He reiterated his concerns about the “systemic deficiencies in the Azerbaijani judicial system and the worrying trend” of increasing cases against human rights defenders and journalists, which has “a chilling effect on freedom of expression” in the country.
Arrested in December (see EUROPE 11214), Isamyilova, who was a journalist at Radio Free Europe, worked among other issues on the corruption within the regime and on human rights violations. In March 2012 she was a victim of discrimination (see EUROPE 10578). According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Azerbaijan is the fifth country in the world where the press is most censored.
In August, human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunis were sentenced to eight and a half years' and seven years' imprisonment respectively, being accused of fraud, tax evasion and illegal trade. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)