VZCZCXRO3990
PP RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHKB #0469/01 0871019
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 281019Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9965
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000469 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PREL AJ
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION JOURNALIST CONTINUES 
RECOVERY FROM ATTACK 
 
 
Classified By: ADCM JOAN POLASCHIK FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D. 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On March 24 PolOff visited Fikret Huseynli, a 
journalist for the opposition Azadliq newspaper (the 
mouthpiece for Ali Kerimli's Popular Front Party) to 
investigate his reported March 5 assault.  Huseynli, who 
appeared to be recovering from an attack, claimed that 
high-level GOAJ officials had ordered the attack in 
retaliation for his reports on corruption.  Police officials 
tell us they are investigating the case; it is unlikey that 
we will be able to definitively verify wht happened.  We 
will continue to press this mattr with the GOAJ to ensure 
that a thorough and fair investigation takes place and that 
freedom of the press is protected.  END SUMMARY. 
 
AZADLIQ JOURNALIST DESCRIBES HIS ATTACK 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a March 24 meeting, Azadliq newspaper journalist 
Fikret Huseynli and his editor briefed poloff on the March 5 
assault on Huseynli.  Azadliq invited four or five local 
press to the meeting, all of whom later reported poloff's 
visit in an attempt to generate more interest in Husyenli's 
case.  Huseynli said that on March 5 around 10pm, he was in a 
suburb on the outskirts of Baku where he was grabbed and 
hauled into a back street, hit with a rubber baton, tied up 
and thrown into a car.  He said that he lost consciousness at 
that point, which he attributed to an injection of some sort 
that he received.  Huseynli showed PolOff two marks on the 
inside of his right arm: one a line below the elbow that 
could have been used to tie off his arm, the other a small 
circle halfway in between his wrist and elbow that he claims 
is a mark from the injection.  Huseynli said doctors have not 
been able to identify the substance with which he claims to 
have been injected.  Huseynli said he was beaten while 
unconscious, causing injury to his kidneys, and when he 
awoke, he was in a dark street and two strangers slit his 
throat.  (Huseynli had two bandaids underneath his chin.)  He 
claims the assailants tried to murder him but he fought back, 
scaring off the assailants.  He said he crawled to the 
highway and managed to flag down a taxi, which took him to 
the hospital. 
 
¶3. (SBU) At the hospital, Huseynli told the staff merely that 
he had "fallen down," because of the number of people, 
including police, at the hospital after he arrived.  He said 
the staff was hesitant to help him and a number of people 
showed interest in listening to what he had to say.  Huseynli 
said he was afraid he would receive further injuries if he 
told the details of what happened to him.  Huseynli's editor 
took him home after the hospital treated him and he has 
continued to receive care at home, with occasional hospital 
visits, since that day.  Huseynli said that police have 
questioned him about the attack both at home and in the 
police station. 
 
JOURNALIST COMMUNITY FEARS CONSPIRACY 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The opposition journalists present during the 
meeting said they believed the attack was ordered from a 
high-level GOAJ official to stop Huseynli from writing about 
GOAJ corruption.  Huseynli's editor claimed that Huseynli was 
the only writer brave enough to continue naming names 
following the murder of prominent journalist Elmar Huseynov, 
and that he wrote about too many GOAJ officials to know which 
one could have been responsible.  (Note:  Contrary to these 
claims, other journalists in fact continue to do so, 
including the full color magazine Hesabat, which began 
publishing in summer 2005 with a cover story on the 30 
richest men in Azerbaijan).  Huseynli's editor said that he 
sees conspiracy with the authorities in the fact that no 
television station has covered the attack on Huseynli; the 
editor stated that only a high-placed GOAJ official could put 
such pressure on TV stations to censor the attack on one of 
their colleagues.  (Independent TV station ANS has in fact 
covered both sides of the incident in its news program). 
Civil society and opposition activists have also denounced 
this as an attack on freedom of the press and an attempt to 
silence another independent/opposition journalist.  Huseynli 
said that after Elmar Huseynov's murder he began receiving 
anonymous phone calls threatening him to stop his work and 
that through third parties, the authorities are offering him 
bribes to stop his investigative reporting.  (Huseynli is not 
the first to make either of these claims). 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶5. (C) It was quite evident that the meeting, attended by 
members of the local press who wanted the conversation to 
take place on the record, was somewhat staged for PolOff's 
 
BAKU 00000469  002 OF 002 
 
 
benefit.  While Huseynli likely was attacked that night and 
may well have been attacked because of what he wrote, there 
is no clear evidence to support or refute his claim.  Police 
officials have told us only that the investigation is 
continuing; they are unlikely to come up with concrete 
answers.  We will continue to press this matter with the GOAJ 
to ensure that a thorough and fair investigation takes place 
and that freedom of the press is protected. 
HARNISH