**Updates IFEX alerts of 15 and 1 May 2000** (CPJ/IFEX) – In a 19 May 2000 letter to President Heidar Aliyev, CPJ stated that it was deeply disturbed over the recent closure of the Baku-based magazine “Monitor Weekly” and by His Excellencyâs continued refusal to review the legality of the Interior Ministry’s October 1999 takeover […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 15 and 1 May 2000**
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 19 May 2000 letter to President Heidar Aliyev, CPJ stated that it was deeply disturbed over the recent closure of the Baku-based magazine “Monitor Weekly” and by His Excellencyâs continued refusal to review the legality of the Interior Ministry’s October 1999 takeover of the independent station Sara Radio/TV.
CPJ believes Azerbaijani officials are using licensing laws and trumped-up tax charges in an attempt to silence all independent media in the country before the November parliamentary elections.
On 8 May, tax inspectors sealed off the offices of “Monitor Weekly” and suspended its publication after accusing the magazine of failing to present a financial report for the first quarter of 2000. But according to the editor-in-chief, Elmar Huseynov, the tax authorities had not given the magazine sufficient time to submit the requested materials.
CPJ fears that the authorities are using this case as a pretext to silence Huseynov’s newspaper in response to his pointed criticisms of the presidentâs regime. This is by no means the first time that Huseynov has faced official harassment. In April, tax inspectors threatened to suspend the activities of any printing house in Baku that published “Monitor Weekly”. And in February 1998, officials banned Huseynov’s previous publication, the magazine “Monitor”.
CPJ is also gravely troubled by the presidentâs refusal to repeal the unlawful closure of Sara Radio/TV. The station was officially registered with the Ministry of Justice in January 1994. But on 8 October 1999, Interior Ministry officials closed down the station, on the grounds that it was owned by foreigners, in violation of the law. According to the station’s Turkish director, Rauf Rasul, Sara TV/Radio is legally registered to Azerbaijani representatives of the Turkish network ICBC Television. The station also argues that Article 7 of the Azerbaijani law on mass media bans foreign ownership of media outlets by physical persons only, but does not restrict ownership by foreign legal entities registered within the country.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
- noting that according to CPJ’s sources, His Excellency has voiced some doubt over the legality of the closure, but despite numerous appeals from Sara TV/Radio, the government has so far taken no action to remedy this deplorable situation
- stating that the president promised the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe that the November elections would be open and democratic, and encouraging him to keep his pledge
- reminding him that open elections require access to varied and opposing views
- urging him to pursue all legal avenues to reinstate both “Monitor Weekly” and Sara-TV/Radio, and to ensure that all journalists in Azerbaijan may practice their profession without fear of reprisal
Appeals To
His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat Street
Baku, Azerbaijan
370066
Fax: +011 9412 920 625
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
