On July 27th Sabail District Court under presiding judge Nuraddin Bagirov denied the lawsuit by Radio Liberty correspondent Khadija Ismayilova against Baku City Prosecutor’s Office, journalist’s lawyer Fariz Namazli reported to the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety today (July 27).
The lawyer says he will appeal against the decision.
Khadija Ismayilova sued the prosecutor’s office for intervention into private life and dissatisfaction with the investigation.
On March 7th 2012 Radio Liberty correspondent Khadija Ismayilova received a blackmailing letter, which contained her intimate photos and threatened that she will be 'defamed' unless she stops ‘behaving improperly’. On March 13th Yeni Azerbaycan newspaper, the official print outlet of the New Azerbaijan Party, published a smearing article “Khadija Ismayilova: the way she seems and they way she is”. The perpetrators continued their smear campaign against Ismayilova, posting intimate video clip with scenes from the journalist’s private life on a phony website, which had been set up to suggest a non-existing affiliation with the opposition party. After her March 15 appeal to the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Ministry, the General Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case under Article 156 of the criminal code (infringement on the inviolability of private life), and Baku Prosecutor’s Office was charged with the investigation of this case. The politically motivated statement of the Baku Prosecutor’s Office was issued on April 26th after the preventive investigation group publicized its report on the smear campaign against Khadija Ismayilova, with the participation of the journalist herself.
Khadija Ismayilova sued the prosecutor’s office for intervention into private life and dissatisfaction with the investigation.
On March 7th 2012 Radio Liberty correspondent Khadija Ismayilova received a blackmailing letter, which contained her intimate photos and threatened that she will be 'defamed' unless she stops ‘behaving improperly’. On March 13th Yeni Azerbaycan newspaper, the official print outlet of the New Azerbaijan Party, published a smearing article “Khadija Ismayilova: the way she seems and they way she is”. The perpetrators continued their smear campaign against Ismayilova, posting intimate video clip with scenes from the journalist’s private life on a phony website, which had been set up to suggest a non-existing affiliation with the opposition party. After her March 15 appeal to the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Ministry, the General Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case under Article 156 of the criminal code (infringement on the inviolability of private life), and Baku Prosecutor’s Office was charged with the investigation of this case. The politically motivated statement of the Baku Prosecutor’s Office was issued on April 26th after the preventive investigation group publicized its report on the smear campaign against Khadija Ismayilova, with the participation of the journalist herself.