Return of violence against journalists?

Reporters Without Borders is shocked and concerned about the beating that several journalists received from the police during an opposition demonstration outside the city hall in Baku, the capital, on 26 April. At least five journalists were attacked, some of them severely, by plain-clothes policemen. The journalists were there to cover a demonstration by members of the leading opposition party, Azadlig. A witness said the policemen surrounded the journalists at the end of the demonstration to prevent them leaving. Before hitting them, the first the policemen insulted the journalists as they were photographing and filming the demonstrators, accusing the journalists of acting as publicists for the opposition’s activities. Reporters Without Borders condemns the violence used by police, especially the attack on journalist Mehman Huseynov of the Institute for Freedom and Safety of Journalists, who was badly injured and whose camera was smashed by a policeman. Other journalists were also injured but not as seriously as Huseynov. Reporters Without Borders also condemns the arrests of Ayanda Mursaliyeva (the wife of recently released journalist Ganimat Zahidov), Seymur Haziyev, Natig Gulahmed Oglu, Gan Turali (who, like Oglu, writes for the newspaper Azadlig) and Parviz Hashimli (a reporter for the newspaper Bizim Yol). They were all held for several hours and then released. More than 200 people took part in the demonstration although it was banned by the authorities. It was called by Azadlig and other opposition parties to demand the right to freedom of assembly. The police denied using violence against any of the participants. Reporters Without Borders fears that Azerbaijan could be about to see a resumption of the kind of violence that was frequent in 2006. It therefore urges the government and the police to take all necessary steps to ensure that there is no recurrence of the violence that took place on 26 April.