Azerbaijani journalists consider French colleagues’ invitation to cooperate a provocation

Three independent Azerbaijani journalists received emails with offers of cooperation signed by their French colleagues. The Azerbaijani journalists believe that those messages were sent by local law enforcers in attempts to get a pretext to institute criminal cases of espionage.

Journalist Nurlan Libre said that he received a letter allegedly from an employee of the French “Le Monde” newspaper, who offered him a short interview.

“The sender used French language to offer me to prepare a report on the economic and social situation in Azerbaijan over the past four years ... At the same time, what alarmed me was that he offered to communicate with him in secret,” Nurlan Libre emphasized.

The journalist admitted that he was also alarmed by the sender’s email address. “The letter came from a private email address, although a French colleague could have sent his letter from the publication’s corporate email address. My doubts grew after I asked other Azerbaijani journalists and learned about similar invitations they had also received from France,” the journalist noted.

Nurlan Libre believes that the purpose of the probable provocation was to accuse him of espionage. The journalist recalled the case of Bakhruz Samedov, who was accused of preparing a report allegedly commissioned by an Armenian intelligence officer.

Independent journalist Fatima Movlanly said that she was contacted by email by Garance Haméon, an employee of the “Ouets-France” newspaper, who offered her a cooperation. However, the Azerbaijani journalist did not give anyone the address to which she received the email.

“I found the real address of a reporter from the ‘Ouets-France’ newspaper and informed him about the invitation to collaborate that I had received allegedly from his colleague. He contacted a real person named Garance Haméon, who claimed that he had not sent any emails to Fatima Movlanly, who was unknown to him. Based on my investigation, I came to the conclusion that Azerbaijani journalists were being subjected to a provocation designed to serve as a pretext to accuse them of spying for France,” the journalist believes.

Zafar Akhmedov, the co-chairman of the “Line of Defence” human rights organization, called the strange email messages to local journalists “a new trick” of the Azerbaijani authorities.