Azerbaijani public treats detection of drug on imprisoned journalist as provocation

Activists of the civil society are indignant with the statement of the spokesman of the Penitentiary Service that as a result of a search heroin was found on Einullah Fatullaev, editor-in-chief of the "Real Azerbaijan" newspaper, who is serving his prison term.

In the opinion of Rashid Gadzhily, director of the Institute of Media Rights, the "detection" of drug on imprisoned journalist Fatullaev is another proof to the fact that he was convicted on far-fetched charges. "It's clear that he couldn't get drugs so easy; the heroin was surely planted on him. It indicates that the Azerbaijani penitentiary system is fit for nothing, and in custody most terrible things can happen even with well-known people," Mr Gadzhily said in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He has added that the aim of the new provocation against Fatullaev was to hamper his possible release in the context of the forthcoming consideration of his case by the Strasbourg Court.

This opinion was also supported by Saida Godzhamanly, head of the Bureau for Human Rights and Law Observance. "These developments are a great blow on the country's image," she said.

Arzu Abdullaeva, head of the National Committee of the Helsinki National Assembly, also believes that the incident was a provocation, evidencing that in Azerbaijan the mechanisms of defending human rights are not at work.

The committee in defence of the freedom of speech regards the incident as "political repression and another step towards suffocation of the freedom of speech." "These actions of Ilham Aliev's government indicate that the ruling regime ignores the very concept of human rights; and the situation in this sphere in Azerbaijan gets worse day by day," the members of the committee assert.

Earlier, Emin Fatullaev, Einullah's father, said that his son had never used drugs, and he was certain that the heroin was planted on him.