13:31, 4 March 2019

Rights defenders remind Azerbaijani President of his promise to solve Elmar Guseinov's murder

Within 14 years, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has failed with his promise to quickly solve the murder of Elmar Guseinov, the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has stated on the anniversary of the journalist's murder. Rights defenders have emphasized that impunity encourages new crimes against journalists.

Elmar Guseinov, the editor-in-chief of the "Monitor" magazine, was killed on March 2, 2005, on the threshold of his apartment. He had repeatedly received threats and was in jail. Back in 2005, two citizens of Georgia were put on the wanted list as suspects of committing the murder.

The IRFS has called on the law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan "to find the customers of the insidious crime, which was aimed at silencing the well-known critic."

Emin Guseinov, the Director of the IRFS, has noted that the authorities failed to hold efficient inquiries into other killings of journalists. According to his story, at least 10 journalists and bloggers are still in Azerbaijani jails, punished for exercising the freedom of self-expression.

Rovshan Gadjibeili, the head of the "Democratic School of Journalism", also believes that crimes against journalists in Azerbaijan remain mainly unpunished.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 3, 2019 at 09:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent