18 March 2016
On March 18, RFE/RL’s Moscow bureau administrator was approached at her home by two unknown men identifying themselves as journalists with Russia’s NTV channel and seeking personal information.
The men, one of whom had a video camera and sought to film the premises, questioned her repeatedly about her income and properties they said she owned in and around Moscow. One of the men said he had received such information from former employees of the Russian Service. The administrator refused to answer the questions.
Nenad Pejic, RFE/RL editor in chief, called the incident “a disgusting example of intimidation,” and said that “authorities in Russia appear to be preparing a case against us because of our journalism.”
NTV is a Kremlin-controlled channel known for conducting defamation campaigns against independent journalists, opposition journalists, and civil-society activists in Russia.
The incident comes one week after an edition of the popular television program News Of The Week With Dmitry Kiselyev, the Kremlin’s lead propagandist, portrayed RFE/RL journalists as spies conspiring against Russia. During the show, Kiselyev announced that a documentary about U.S. international broadcasting would be forthcoming.
RFE/RL’s Russian Service, known locally as Radio Svoboda, operates out of a Moscow bureau and RFE/RL’s headquarters in Prague.
In 2015, Radio Svoboda was the second most-cited radio station in Russian social media, according to the Medialogia agency, right behind Ekho Moskvy.
Last year, 430 million people visited RFE/RL websites, where they viewed nearly 1 billion pages of original RFE/RL content. Within that audience, RFE/RL’s Russian-language sites provided 266 million pages of content to almost 170 million visitors. RFE/RL Russian-language Facebook pages registered almost 23 million engaged users last year.
About RFE/RL and its Russian Service
RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda is a multi-platform alternative to state-run media, providing audiences in and around the Russian Federation with timely and balanced news, analysis, and opinion.
(Source: RFE/RL press release)
23 February 2016
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili used his visit to RFE/RL’s Prague headquarters today to affirm his government’s commitment to Europe, amidst fraught relations within the region and between the West and Russia over European security, Ukraine, and Syria.
The visit, part of an official two-day trip to the Czech Republic that included meetings with political counterparts, business leaders, and students, came just days after the prime minister spoke exclusively with RFE/RL’s Georgian Service in Tbilisi in his first major interview with any media since assuming office on December 30, 2015. The interview was cited by dozens of media outlets in both Georgia and Russia, and reached 200,000 people via the Georgian Service’s Facebook page and website.
In the interview, Kvirikashvili declared, “We are not moving towards Europe, but we are Europe,” removing any ambiguity about his government’s political vision. He said, “We will do everything in our power to make sure that every citizen of Georgia, every business entity, every single small-scale entrepreneur becomes aware of the benefits of European integration.”
He then described how his government would reconcile its European aspirations with the challenges posed by Russia. “We are doing everything we can to bring our message to Russian politicians — that Georgia, with its Western values, pro-Western orientation and its desire to integrate with the West, is not opposing Russia and is not seeking any confrontation with Russia.” At the same time, Kvirikashvili flatly rejected the possibility of political normalization with Russia absent its recognition of Georgia’s territorial integrity, calling this principle “fundamental” and beyond compromise.
Kvirikashvili spoke warmly of Georgia’s relationship with the U.S., characterizing it as “one of our best,” and recognized the U.S. as “a very solid supporter of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
About RFE/RL and its Georgian Service
RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
RFE/RL’s Georgian Service, Radio Tavisupleba is a rare, and award-winning, source of balanced journalism in a country where much of the press openly supports, both editorially and through the selection of news, either the government or the opposition. ( Source: RFE/RL press release)
21 January 2016
The announcement by international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney that she will defend RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova before the European Court of Human Rights has raised the profile of the case along with hopes among media freedom advocates that the additional attention will help secure Ismayilova’s release.
Ismayilova told RFE/RL today through her Baku lawyer that she accepted Clooney’s offer because of the courage Clooney demonstrated while defending imprisoned Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy in Egypt in 2014.
RFE/RL Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic welcomed the announcement, saying “Amal Clooney’s decision to take the case is a powerful affirmation of Khadija and her journalism,” adding, “It’s a triumph for media freedom already. I know that with their combined strength they will win.”
Ismayilova, an internationally recognized investigative journalist from Azerbaijan, was sentenced in September, 2015 to over seven years in prison on spurious tax and finance-related charges that are widely believed to have been brought in retaliation for her reporting on corruption linked to members of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s family. Not a single witness testified against Ismayilova in a trial that rights groups called a “sham.”
International criticism of the Azerbaijani government and Ismayilova’s imprisonment reached a high point in December, 2015 with the introduction of H.R.4264, the Azerbaijan Democracy Act. Introduced by Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), the bill would impose sanctions on Azerbaijani officials implicated in human rights abuses.
Clooney will represent Ismayilova together with Nani Jansen, head of the London-based Media Legal Defence Initiative. (Source: RFE/RL press release)
3 December 2015
On December 5, 2014, investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova was arrested by Azeri officials on charges that are widely recognized as retribution for her reporting on corruption among Azerbaijan’s leadership. In September, she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.
RFE/RL marks Ismayilova’s first year behind bars with an RFE/RLive Hangout that will provide an update on her case, and discuss developments relating to investigative journalism in the former Soviet states, including tools reporters are using and the efforts of those in policy positions to support them. A new initiative sponsored by RFE/RL and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project that aims to continue Ismayilova’s work will be announced.
RFE/RLive: Khadija Ismayilova’s First Year in Prison
and the Investigative Journalism Landscape in Eurasia
Friday, December 4, 2015
Washington, D.C.–11:00 a.m. / Prague–5:00 p.m.
Join the event live on YouTube,
and on Facebook or Twitter using hashtag #RFERLive
Johann Bihr is the Head of Eastern Europe & Central Asia at Reporters Without Borders. He graduated from Paris’s Sorbonne University in 2007 with a degree in International Relations, and has worked for humanitarian NGOs in Central Asia.
John M. Donnelly joined Congressional Quarterly in 2004 and is now a senior writer, covering defense and foreign policy issues. He worked previously at Defense Week, where he won many awards for investigative journalism. He has written for numerous other publications, from the Los Angeles Times to the Economist magazine, and has been featured on broadcast news programs, including ABC World News Tonight and NBC’s Meet the Press. Donnelly has been active in the leadership of the National Press Club since 2001 and chairs its Press Freedom Committee. In June 2015, the National Press Club awarded Khadija Ismayilova its John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. He also served on the Standing Committee of Correspondents of the U.S. Congress, which accredits reporters. He is a graduate of the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
Ilkin Mammadov, the Director of the Azerbaijani Service, joined RFE/RL in 2004, where he has covered major news events for the Service while playing a lead role in launching several of its signature programs on FM, TV, and the web. Prior to joining RFE/RL, he worked for Internews-Network and for several local TV stations in Baku, Azerbaijan. Mammadov holds an MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baku State University.
Kyle Parker is a member of the senior professional staff of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he oversees the Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Prior to his service in Congress, Kyle spent eight years on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe focusing on democracy, rule of law, and human rights in the post-Soviet space. From 1998 to 2006, Kyle worked in the non-profit sector promoting relations with the countries of the former Soviet Union through high-level political exchanges and Track II diplomacy.
Drew Sullivan is the director and editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an organization he founded together with investigative reporting centers, media outlets, and reporters from a dozen countries. In 2004, he founded the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and served as its editor and first director before the center became an independent, locally run organization. He also founded the Journalism Development Network, an innovative media development organization with programs in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Sullivan was a reporter or editor on work that won the Online Journalism Award for investigative reporting, the first- ever Global Shining Light Award, and other prizes.
Daisy Sindelar (Moderator) is RFE/RL’s European Regional Director. She specializes in the examination of ordinary people and the challenges they encounter living in the countries of the former Soviet Union, and is particularly interested in the problems facing women, children and minorities. Based in Prague, she has also reported from Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Source: RFE/RL press release)
1 September 2015
A Baku court today sentenced investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova to seven and a half years in prison on charges widely believed to be retribution for her reporting on corruption linked to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and members of his family.
Ismayilova was convicted on charges of criminal libel, tax evasion, illegal business activity, and abuse of power. She was barred from holding public office for three years and fined the equivalent of 300USD for court-related expenses. She was acquitted of the charge of incitement to suicide.
“Khadija’s case is an example of politics, not law. There was no merit, ever, to any of the charges against her and there was no due process during her trial.” said Nenad Pejic, RFE/RL’s editor in chief. “The authorities simply decided to silence her at any price.”
In her final testimony in court on August 31, a defiant Ismayilova delivered her own blistering indictment of Azerbaijan’s justice system, mocking the prosecution for failing to put together a convincing case and schooling the judge on the charges against her. She called the trial a “poor quality scam” and said, “I am more successful in this business of finding proof than is the notorious prosecutor’s staff.”
During the trial, not a single witness testified against Ismayilova in court.
In a public statement condemning the sentence, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, called on the Azeri government “to stop targeting journalists.” The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists stated that the sentence would have “gravely serious” consequences for Azeri journalists. Speaking as a member of the Sport for Rights Coalition of media advocacy and human rights groups, the PEN American Center’s Karin Deutsch Karlekar called on the Azeri government to stop “this unprecedented witch-hunt against journalists.”
Ismayilova was arrested on December 5, 2014 for inciting an individual to attempt suicide Her accuser sought to withdraw the allegation, testifying in a pre-trial hearing in July that he had “defamed” her under pressure from law enforcement agencies, but the court rejected a defense motion to drop the charge.
Additional charges of money laundering, illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, and abuse of authority, all purportedly related to her work for RFE/RL, were brought against her in February, 2015. Ismayilova ridiculed the charges in her closing statement for their arbitrariness and lack of proof. They were previously refuted by RFE/RL in a point-by-point statement sent to Azerbaijan’s general prosecutor and the judge presiding in the trial.
One day before Ismayilova’s arrest, Rahmiz Mehtiyev, senior adviser to President Aliyev, published a 60-page tirade accusing RFE/RL journalists of treason. Three weeks later, on December 26, Azeri state agents raided and sealed RFE/RL’s Baku bureau, seizing documents, corporate stamps, and equipment. They then interrogated more than 20 members of its staff. The bureau is closed and, according to the prosecutor’s office, remains under investigation in connection with RFE/RL’s status as a “foreign agent.”
RFE/RL continues to gather news and report inside Azerbaijan for its website, www.azadliq.org. Several of its employees have fled the country in fear and others work under duress, subject to interrogations, frozen bank accounts, and threats.
(Source: RFE/RL press release)
