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OSCE Representative Condemns Attacks on Azerbaijani Journalist

Society Materials 17 March 2008 17:22 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 March / corr Trend K.Ramazanova / The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, condemned the stabbing of Agil Khalil, a reporter of the Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Azadliq, and urged the government to investigate the matter.

"I welcome the Presidential Administration's pledge to bring the attackers to justice," Haraszti said. "Action is necessary not only for the sake of justice in this case but also in order to investigate whether the attack was part of a campaign against Azadliq, which is one of the few remaining independent newspapers in Azerbaijan."Khalil remained in a serious condition on Monday. He was stabbed in the back on Thursday as he was leaving the Azadliq editorial offices."The recent imprisonment of Azadliq journalists Ganimat Zahidov and his brother Zahid Zahidov, on various charges, has added an atmosphere of intimidation as much as the earlier assault against Khalil."On 13 March, at 8.00pm Agil Khalil, a journalist of the Azadlig newspaper, was stabbed in the chest by unknown assailants. He was immediately taken to the Clinical Medical Centre where he was operated on. A criminal case was made which is investigated by the Baku Central Police Office."The lack of successful governmental investigation in cases of violence against journalists encourages the repetition of such crimes," Haraszti said. "The international community and journalists in Azerbaijan are still waiting for concrete results of the investigation of the 2005 murder of prominent journalist Elmar Huseynov, and of the numerous, so far unpunished, attacks against journalists that took place in recent years."Haraszti said his Office was closely following the investigation into the attack on Khalil.

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