MANS today strongly condemned the arrest and detention of Kadidza Ismaliova, the Azerbaijani investigative journalist and concluded that this is a drastic violation of human rights and freedom of media and expression, characteristic for totalitarian regimes.
Kadidza Ismaliova, a prominent Azerbaijani investigative journalist of “Radio Free Europe” and international network of investigative journalists OCCRP, that closely cooperates with MANS, on Friday is retained in the two0months detention in Baku, on the charge “incitement to suicide”. We believe this represents another in a series of legal pressure on Kadidza and her work.
In fact, Ismaliova discovered that behind the “British campaign” which exploring gold in Azerbaijan completely devastated the environment and threaten the health of the population on the locations where excavations were carried out, are family members of the President Ilham Alijev. In the past Summer Ismaliova discovered and relevant facts which prove participation of the President’s daughter in the privatization of Azerbaijani phone giant. These are just two of dozens of hers sensational discoveries involving family Aliev. For her work, Ismaliova was awarded many times with distinguished international awards.
Kadidza was arrested just the day after the head of the Cabinet of the President of Azerbaijian Ilham Alijev, Ramiz Medijev issued a statement on 60 pages, in which accused Kadidza for expressing “destructive attitude toward the well known members of the Azerbaijan society”, and concluded that this “satisfies her masters abroad”. In the statement it is also said that the Radio Free Europe is on “disgusting way” and to work “for a foreign intelligence service”.
The offenses that she was charged with are the product of contrived efforts to finally suppress critical voice of Ismaliova, and also to show to others what kind of regime’s answer can expect if they dare to investigate the affairs of the family of the President Alijev.
“Journalists need to be together, they should not leave the investigative journalist alone, it should be that just one person deals with investigative journalism. The criminals, corrupted politicians and politicians must not think that if they eliminated one they solved the problem. Do not hold back. Once you make a step back, your one step back means two steps ahead for them. In the environment of corrupted politics, society is on the shoulders of the media, the media is at the forefront of the struggle for the truth. In contrary, it is going to be very hard for others, said Ismaliova in the interview that she recently gave to portal of the New magazine.
MANS deeply sympathizes with Ismaliova since it itself continually because of its work is under the pressure of the current regime, and more than obvious parals that this case shows between two “democracies”. Those in Azerbaijan, and ours, Montenegrin.
It is quite obvious that the Prime Minister Djukanovic and President Alijev of Azerbaijan share not only profit interests and business plans, but primarily and clearly express hostility toward critics of the their regimes, and a willingness to such relationship initiates a concrete actions to shut the voice of free media and critics of their regime. Both of them showed that many times so far, and because of that it is natural that the investors from Azerbaijan are called as “strategic partners” of this Government.
We believe that such treatment of regime critics is completely unacceptable, and in this way once again we urge the immediate release of Ismaliova and full respect for journalists’ rights to work in an environment free of intimidation, threats and blackmail.
MANS invites and all relevant local and international organizations dealing with freedom of media and the protection of human rights to take a stand towards this latest example of the gross oppression of media’s freedoms and rights of journalists.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the Research Center of MANS
