Reporters Without Borders condemns the forced labour sentences
that a Baku court has passed on Avaz Zeynalli, the editor of the
independent weekly Khural, and Vugar Gurdganli, one of his journalists,
in two separate cases arising from articles published last year about
corruption in government circles.
In verdicts handed down on 18 and 21 January, Zeynalli was
sentenced to two years and a year and a half of forced labour.
Gurdganli was sentenced to a year and a half of forced labour. Zeynalli
must also pay the state 20 per cent of his salary for two years, while
Gurdganli must pay the state 20 per cent of his salary for a year and a
half.
“Press offences must be quickly decriminalized in
Azerbaijan,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The list of prosecutions
of news media seems endless. “The disproportionate sentences imposed on
journalists has a deplorable effect on press freedom and encourages
self-censorship. But the government turns a deaf ear and continues to
claim that journalists who write about corruption are criminals.”
Zeynalli
and Gurdganli were found guilty of libelling Elmar Valiyev, the head of
the Yevlakh region (260 km west of Baku), in articles about the
relationship between him and President Ilham Aliev published in October
and November headlined “Power belongs to Valiyev and not Aliev” and
“Elmar Valiyev deceives Ilham Aliev.”