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Azerbaijani authoritieshave filed a criminal case against the executives and journalists of online Meydan TV, which is one of the few Azerbaijani independent media outlets.According to one of the versions, the criminal case against Meydan TV came as a result of the publication of the list of the dead during the latest escalation in the Karabakh conflict zone, Russian TV channel Rain reports. 

It is reminded that earlier, Meydan TV’seditorial staff presented a list of 93 killed Azerbaijani soldiers, while the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense declared about 31 killed. According to Meydan TV’s editor-in-chief EminMilli, every person in that list has been really killed in the military action, and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense cannot deny this information.

“Meydan TV enjoys a great trust among the Azerbaijani citizens, and that is why, when the military action began, soldiers themselves and the families of the killed – parents, relatives, brothers, sisters – sent the names and photos of the killed to us. Our journalists and our people checked the information in place, and they were present at funerals. Each name we included in the list is checked, and it is not surprising that the pro-governmental media started to call us traitorsfor some reason,”Milli notes.

According to him, until now, none of the pro-governmental media outlets could deny any of the facts published on Meydan TV. He notes that the pro-governmental Haqqin.az referred to a soldier as if he were alive, while the TV presented him as dead. However, the editor clarifies that in reality, the pro-governmental website did not use a screenshot or a hyperlink to Meydan TV.

“Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the pro-governmental media could point where Meydan TV had lied. In other words, we did what the Ministry of Defense actually should have done from the very beginning. We think that this is a lack of respect by our government and the Ministry of Defense towards the killed soldiers, their families, relatives, friends, and the whole Azerbaijani nation,”Milli emphasizes.

HefurthernotesthattheindependentmediaareinbadconditionsinAzerbaijan. He reminds that the headquarters of the internet TV channel founded by him is in Berlin, and that he does not have his own journalists in Azerbaijan. He saidthere are several citizens, who send video materials and certain information to them for publication.

“We have professional journalists outside Azerbaijan, who process and check that information,being abroad. Onlyafterthat, wepublishit. It is a very complicated system and scheme, but, unfortunately, the independent media in Azerbaijan cannot work in any other way nowadays,” he notes.

Millialso reminds that in December 2014, he had to close the Meydan TV office toavoid the authorities’ pressure. He highlights that at that time, even the office of RFE/RL financed by the US Congress, was closed.

He notes that the criminal case is launched against Meydan TV’s “executives,” however, as this online media outlet is not a legal entity in Azerbaijan, the accusations are brought against certain people. “Thecriminalcaseisnoteventhequestion. For example, one of our editors, GunelMovlud, is in Tbilisi, and her two brothers are currently in prison. One of my relatives was also in prison, he has been released recently. Several months ago, the police forced 23 of my relatives to publicly renounce me,”Milli says noting that an atmosphere of fear is unleashed in the country, like in Stalin times.

Moreover, there are citizens among the 15 people sued for their collaboration with Meydan TV, who sent only few video materials to the editors. “It is frightful to think that people can be punished only for that. Unfortunately, we have to be ready for everything,” he says.

In its turn, the famous American newspaper The Washington Post writes that  before his recent visit to the United States in the beginning of March, President IlhamAliyev of Azerbaijan pardoned some 148 inmates, among them some journalists and political prisoners.In Washington, Aliyev met with Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Vice President Biden. But no one should conclude that this brutish leader has changed his ways.

The newspaper notes that after Aliyev returned home, Meydan TV, an independent digital news platform, announced that prosecutors there opened a criminal investigation for alleged illegal business activities, abuse of power and tax evasion. It is highlighted that those are the standard charges used to harass and silence Aliyev’s critics.None of the 15 journalists, against whom thecriminal case has been launched, is yet formally charged, but some have been told they cannot leave the country, and they are subject to home searches and equipment confiscations without a warrant.EminMilli, Meydan TV’s founder, served 16 months in prison on trumped-up charges.

“Mr. Aliyev is always jittery in the face of criticism.He jailed the journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who first exposed the ownership of lucrative gold mines by Mr. Aliyev’s daughters, later revealed in the Panama Papers to be even larger than thought,” The Washington Post informs.

Journalists, bloggers and activists also remain imprisoned in the country. The newspaper emphasizes that Meydan TV has recently challenged the official count of casualties suffered by Azerbaijan in a “four-day conflict.”

“The experience of Meydan TV teaches that the digital byways can enable free information to reach closed societies and bypass tyrants.Mr. Aliyev seems to think he can fight back with secret police and prosecutors.Perhaps Mr. Aliyev inherited these inclinations from his father, Heydar, a career KGB man who was appointed to the Soviet Politburo.While KGB methods can be painful for those targeted, they can’t seal out the truth, nor stop criticism, as Meydan TV and Ms. Ismayilova have courageously demonstrated.Mr. Aliyev should free all political prisoners, drop the prosecution of Meydan TV and sit down to watch the channel himself. He might learn something about the values a nation needs to succeed in the modern age,” the newspaper sums up.

Meanwhile, Amal Clooney, a British lawyer of Lebanese descent anda specialist in international law and human rights, told BBC that as the attorney of the Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was condemned to 7,5 years of imprisonment in Baku, she will achieve the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision on her case.

Clooney said that she had met the Azerbaijani ambassador to the US, who assured her that his country will respect the decision of the ECHR. According to her, there are also diplomatic methods of resolving the problem, among which a law bill enacted in the US Congress and providing sanctions against Azerbaijani officials among them.

Meanwhile, RFE/RL reports that influential American senator Ben Cardin also met Amal Clooney and discussed Khadija Ismayilova’s case with her. “I had a very productive conversation with AmalClooney and am impressed by her passion for and dedication to humanrights,” the senator posted on his Facebook page.

In addition, the Caucasian Knot reports that the Azerbaijani human rights defenders and former political prisoners IntigamAliyev, AnarMammadli, and RasulJafarovreleased a joint statement calling the Azerbaijani authorities to release the rest of the political prisoners in the country – journalists, bloggers, political activists, and religious community representatives.

The authors of the statement note that the restrictions of freedom of speechand assembly are a serious threat to Azerbaijan’s political perspectives and democratic progress. “Azerbaijani authorities violate their international obligations by prosecuting media and enacting laws, which narrow the possibilities for the political parties’ activities,”AnarMamedli emphasized.