2015-09-02

BAKU - On 1 September 2015, investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who has written numerous hard-hitting stories on corruption in Azerbaijan, was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison by the Azerbaijani authorities.

Ismayilova insists she is being imprisoned for her investigative work and that the charges lodged against her are fabricated, an assessment backed by civil society groups and media freedom organisations. Her journalism for OCCRP, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other press organs included major exposes of graft and improper business links of those in the close circle of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, including his family members.

“This case was a travesty. It has more in common with the Stalin show trials than modern justice,” says Drew Sullivan, editor of OCCRP. “It appears Khadija was convicted politically and not criminally for her reporting.”

Paul Radu, executive director of OCCRP, added: “Khadija is our dear friend and one of the best investigative reporters in the world. Journalists all over the world will leave no stone unturned to continue her work in exposing the wrongdoings of the current cabal in Baku.”

Aliyev has increasingly moved to silence his political opposition, as seen in the recent case of activists Leyla and Arif Yunus, who earlier this month were sentenced to eight-and-a-half and seven years respectively. Throughout Ismayilova’s trial, the court restricted the presence of international observers and journalists, and limited her access to her lawyers.

Ismayilova was convicted of embezzlement, tax evasion, abuse of power, and running an illegal business at the RFE/RL bureau — charges she has called ridiculous.

OCCRP joins media freedom and human rights organisations worldwide to demand Ismayilova’s immediate release. Organisations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to the OSCE’s freedom of press representative and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights have noted she is a political prisoner and her incarceration cannot be tolerated.

This coalition urgently calls on foreign governments, the European Parliament, and international organisations to condemn Ismayilova’s bogus trial, which offends the principles of press freedom and the observance of human rights not only in Azerbaijan but any country and organisation with which Azerbaijan cooperates.

Sullivan said: “We are disappointed for Khadija, her family and the people of Azerbaijan but we know they will stay strong. If the President of Azerbaijan thinks he can stop reporters from investigating crimes by putting them in jail he is wrong. More reporters from around the world will take their place. The truth will always come out and history will rightly judge us all.”

About Khadija Ismayilova

Until her arrest on Dec. 5, 2014, Ismayilova hosted a popular program on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani service and worked as a senior investigator for OCCRP.

Ismayilova first received international attention when agents hid a video camera in her bedroom and recorded her in intimate moments with her boyfriend, threatening her with exposure; when she refused to be silenced, the videos were released in the spring of 2012.

In 2012 she received both the German ZEIT Foundation award and the International Women’s Media Federation’s Courage Award; in 2013, she added to those the Global Shining Light Award. In 2015 she has been honored by the PEN America Press Freedom Award, the ZEIT Foundation, the Swedish Press Club, and the National Press Club in America.

About Ismayilova’s work

Ismayilova was inspired by journalist Elmar Huseynov’s murder in 2005 to take up investigative reporting and speak out against corrupt use of public money by top-level officials in Azerbaijan’s administration.

She exposed graft in the construction and gold mining industries, which appeared to be linked to Azerbaijan’s First Family.

In summer 2014, shortly before her arrest, Ismayilova wrote about the Azerbaijani telecom industry, revealing the previously hidden involvement of President Aliyev’s daughters.

In response to her jailing, OCCRP launched The Khadija Project to finish her work. Reporters around the world joined forces and were quickly able to show that a company close to President Aliyev and his family had likely walked off with more than US$ 1 billion in a takeover of the Azerbaijani state’s stake in Azercell Telecom, the country’s largest mobile operator.

During Ismayilova’s incarceration, reporters have continued focusing on the First Family of Azerbaijan, their associates and their activities, and additional stories are in the works. The latest story, published today, details the First Family’s use of super-luxury yachts owned by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.

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