OSCE PA human rights Chairperson Isabel SantosCOPENHAGEN, 1 September 2015 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Chair, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today called for the immediate release of Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was sentenced earlier on 1 September to 7 ½ years in prison.
“Ms. Ismayilova has earned several awards for her reporting. The reward she got today from her country’s justice system was a harsh prison term. It is clear to me that this is a politically motivated response to Ms. Ismayilova’s work to hold her country’s leaders accountable. With every journalist, human rights defender and civil society leader it harasses or jails, Azerbaijan distances itself further and further from democratic values and OSCE human dimension commitments.
“I call on the authorities to abandon their authoritarian practices and immediately release Ms. Ismayilova, along with the numerous human rights defenders, civil society leaders and other journalists currently and unfairly behind bars,” Santos said.
Chairperson Santos also reiterated her request to visit Ismayilova, which she first submitted to the government of Azerbaijan in February.
Ismayilova’s reporting for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty focused on alleged high-level corruption in Azerbaijan.
The Baku Court on Grave Crimes issued its sentence after finding her guilty of tax evasion, illegal business activities, criminal libel and abuse of power.
Ismayilova had been held since her arrest in December 2014 and was also fined for libel while in detention.
Chairperson Santos also noted that within the Helsinki Declaration, the wide-ranging final document endorsed by parliamentarians at the OSCE PA’s 2015 Annual Session, the Assembly “condemn[ed] the continued persecution and imprisonment on politically motivated charges of journalists and human rights defenders in several OSCE participating States and express[ed] its concern at the continued misuse of tax and administrative legislation to justify these acts.”
Santos once again expressed her openness to direct engagement with the Azerbaijani authorities on these matters.
