On 8 May, freelance journalist Ayten Mammadova was threatened by a knife-wielding man in the elevator of her apartment block. The man demanded that she stop writing about a trial she was covering, and warned that if she didn't he would 'deal' with her daughter.
This is an edited version of a statement originally published on irfs.org on 10 May 2022. It is available in Azerbaijani and Russian, here.
The egregious targeting of freelance journalist Ayten Mammadova is a consequence of the climate of impunity for crimes against journalists encouraged by the Azerbaijani government
The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) condemns the targeting of journalist Ayten Mammadova and calls on the Azerbaijani government to find and punish all those involved in this crime as soon as possible.
Mammadova was ambushed by an assailant using a knife on May 8, 2022. An unknown middle-aged man entered the elevator with the journalist in the building where she lives, put a knife to her throat, and demanded that she stop writing about the trial she was covering. The assailant rode in the elevator with the journalist to the 6th floor where her apartment is located, holding the knife’s blade at the journalist’s throat the whole time. In the end, the assailant said that if the journalist didn’t change her mind and grow wiser, then next time he would brutally deal with her young daughter and then with her.
After the incident, the journalist immediately contacted the police. However, even though two days have passed since the event, the police have not found nor detained the perpetrator.
This crime against a journalist is a consequence of systematic, deliberate inaction by Azerbaijani authorities in the investigation of crimes committed against journalists. Not so long ago, on February 22, 2022, journalist Avaz Shikhmammadov was brutally murdered at his home. Shortly before his murder, he had repeatedly, officially, and publicly appealed to the leadership of Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies to protect him from threats to his life and physical safety.
Another heinous example of the inaction of law enforcement agencies is the ineffective investigation into the group attack and kidnapping of blogger and social activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev on April 21, 2022. The latter was brutally tortured and subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment. The police opened a criminal case under “hooliganism,” deliberately understating the scale of the crime, which had included violent and illegal kidnapping and deprivation of liberty of a person by a group, torture and inhuman treatment, humiliation of honor and dignity, the threat of rape and murder, and forcible coercion to remove publications critical of the country’s authorities.
Since the beginning of the year, many journalists, mainly those investigating corruption and egregious crimes committed by officials, have received direct threats from representatives of law enforcement agencies and special services. In several instances, state officials and security forces threatened journalists and demanded they stop their activities, citing an unspoken requirement coming from the highest political leadership of the country, including the President of Azerbaijan.
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, 38 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expressed concern about the level of increased violence and threats against journalists and called on PACE to appoint a rapporteur to objectively investigate these crimes. Yesterday, co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan from the PACE Monitoring Committee Stefan Schennach also condemned the egregious attack and called on the Azerbaijani authorities to effectively investigate the crime against Mammadova.
“Instead of adequately responding to the concerns of PACE members and publicly condemning the recent crimes against journalists, the political leadership of Azerbaijan, by its silence, creates and strengthens the preconditions for the deterioration of the situation with the safety of journalists in Azerbaijan, which will undoubtedly lead to new egregious attacks in the near future,” IRFS Executive Director Emin Huseynov believes.
IRFS calls on the political leadership of Azerbaijan to publicly condemn the attack against Mammadova, ensure her safety and that of her family members, and guarantee her a safe environment to continue her critically important independent journalistic activities.
IRFS calls on Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić and the Council’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović to condemn the Azerbaijani authorities and urge them to effectively investigate the attack against journalist Mammadova, and other similar crimes committed recently.
