01 October 2003, 14:26
Internews Azerbaijan denounced violence against journalists and human rights activists
The Media Rights Institute attached to Internews Azerbaijan denounced the attack on the Our Nakhchivan newspaper editorial office which took place last Saturday. As it is noted in the institute's statement, on September 27 a group of 10-15 people rushed into the Resource Human Rights Center in Nakhchivan and into the Our Nakhchivan newspaper editorial office, which is located in the same building. They began to throw tomatoes, eggs, stones at the present, made a pogrom in the rooms and start beating human rights women-activists and Our Nakhchivan newspaper editor-in-chief Malakhat Nasibova. They threatened the latter with violence, as well as with flat burning and violence against children if the paper publication continues. The materials of the first issue of this first independent paper in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic were balanced, so there were no grounds for such an aggressive attack. However, as the editor-in-chief believes, the attack was aimed at frightening the editorial staff and constraining them to stop the paper publication. The Media Rights Institute also denounced the indifference of the police towards such despotism. Internews calls upon the country's government to make normal conditions for the publication of the Our Nakhchivan newspaper, hold an inquiry into the incident, and punish the guilty.
Source: New Time newspaper (Azerbaijan)
