AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION JOURNALIST CONTINUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000469 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PREL AJ SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION JOURNALIST CONTINUES RECOVERY FROM ATTACK Classified By: ADCM JOAN POLASCHIK FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On March 24 PolOff visited Fikret Huseynli, a journalist for the opposition Azadliq newspaper (the mouthpiece for Ali Kerimli's Popular Front Party) to investigate his reported March 5 assault. Huseynli, who appeared to be recovering from an attack, claimed that high-level GOAJ officials had ordered the attack in retaliation for his reports on corruption. Police officials tell us they are investigating the case; it is unlikey that we will be able to definitively verify wht happened. We will continue to press this mattr with the GOAJ to ensure that a thorough and fair investigation takes place and that freedom of the press is protected. END SUMMARY. AZADLIQ JOURNALIST DESCRIBES HIS ATTACK -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In a March 24 meeting, Azadliq newspaper journalist Fikret Huseynli and his editor briefed poloff on the March 5 assault on Huseynli. Azadliq invited four or five local press to the meeting, all of whom later reported poloff's visit in an attempt to generate more interest in Husyenli's case. Huseynli said that on March 5 around 10pm, he was in a suburb on the outskirts of Baku where he was grabbed and hauled into a back street, hit with a rubber baton, tied up and thrown into a car. He said that he lost consciousness at that point, which he attributed to an injection of some sort that he received. Huseynli showed PolOff two marks on the inside of his right arm: one a line below the elbow that could have been used to tie off his arm, the other a small circle halfway in between his wrist and elbow that he claims is a mark from the injection. Huseynli said doctors have not been able to identify the substance with which he claims to have been injected. Huseynli said he was beaten while unconscious, causing injury to his kidneys, and when he awoke, he was in a dark street and two strangers slit his throat. (Huseynli had two bandaids underneath his chin.) He claims the assailants tried to murder him but he fought back, scaring off the assailants. He said he crawled to the highway and managed to flag down a taxi, which took him to the hospital. ¶3. (SBU) At the hospital, Huseynli told the staff merely that he had "fallen down," because of the number of people, including police, at the hospital after he arrived. He said the staff was hesitant to help him and a number of people showed interest in listening to what he had to say. Huseynli said he was afraid he would receive further injuries if he told the details of what happened to him. Huseynli's editor took him home after the hospital treated him and he has continued to receive care at home, with occasional hospital visits, since that day. Huseynli said that police have questioned him about the attack both at home and in the police station. JOURNALIST COMMUNITY FEARS CONSPIRACY -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The opposition journalists present during the meeting said they believed the attack was ordered from a high-level GOAJ official to stop Huseynli from writing about GOAJ corruption. Huseynli's editor claimed that Huseynli was the only writer brave enough to continue naming names following the murder of prominent journalist Elmar Huseynov, and that he wrote about too many GOAJ officials to know which one could have been responsible. (Note: Contrary to these claims, other journalists in fact continue to do so, including the full color magazine Hesabat, which began publishing in summer 2005 with a cover story on the 30 richest men in Azerbaijan). Huseynli's editor said that he sees conspiracy with the authorities in the fact that no television station has covered the attack on Huseynli; the editor stated that only a high-placed GOAJ official could put such pressure on TV stations to censor the attack on one of their colleagues. (Independent TV station ANS has in fact covered both sides of the incident in its news program). Civil society and opposition activists have also denounced this as an attack on freedom of the press and an attempt to silence another independent/opposition journalist. Huseynli said that after Elmar Huseynov's murder he began receiving anonymous phone calls threatening him to stop his work and that through third parties, the authorities are offering him bribes to stop his investigative reporting. (Huseynli is not the first to make either of these claims). COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (C) It was quite evident that the meeting, attended by members of the local press who wanted the conversation to take place on the record, was somewhat staged for PolOff's BAKU 00000469 002 OF 002 benefit. While Huseynli likely was attacked that night and may well have been attacked because of what he wrote, there is no clear evidence to support or refute his claim. Police officials have told us only that the investigation is continuing; they are unlikely to come up with concrete answers. We will continue to press this matter with the GOAJ to ensure that a thorough and fair investigation takes place and that freedom of the press is protected. HARNISH