IMPRISONED EDITOR WANTS TO MEET WITH OMBUSDWOMAN

Yesterday, March 24th, lawyer Anar Gasimov met with imprisoned journalist Fatullayev in prison #1. The journalist has been held in an isolation ward for 20 days because of threats to his life.

The lawyer said Fatullayev wanted to meet with the Ombudswoman Elmira Suleimanova personally. The journalist said he was discontented with the Ombudswoman Administration’s report about their visiting Fatullayev in jail. The report only accentuated the journalist’s health conditions, while he himself wanted to be transferred to another prison. He also wanted the officials to investigate his beating by masked people on the way from the primary confinement point to the jail.

BACKGROUND

On the 29th of December, 2009, 0.223 grams of heroin was reportedly found on Fatullayev in Prison #12 and on the 6th of July, 2010, Fatullayev was found guilty under article 234.1 ( possession of narcotics) of the Criminal Code. His sentence of two years and six months in prison began on the same date. His appeal against the decision was rejected.

In 2007, Eynulla Fatullayev, editor-in-chief of “Realniy Azerbaydjan” and “Gundelik Azerbaycan” newspapers, was sentenced to 8.5 years in jail for threatening terrorism, amongst other charges. However, on April 22, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled for his immediate release and financial compensation from the Azerbaijani government (27,800 EUR). The Azerbaijani Supreme Court Plenum has only partially fulfilled the decision.