Investigative reporter on trial in Azerbaijan
July 25, 2015
Ismayilova's trial started in the Azerbaijani capital's Court for Serious Crimes on Friday. Along with charges of tax evasion and libel, Ismayilova is also accused of illegal business activity and abuse of power.
The judge rejected two motions brought by her lawyers, one to dismiss the criminal case and another to allow audio and video recordings of the proceedings.
Ismayilova, her supporters and human rights groups say the charges against her are politically motivated and in retaliation for her extensive reporting on the financial dealings of the president, Ilham Aliyev, and his family.
Ismayilova was arrested in December and accused of trying to persuade another journalist to take their own life. Only later did prosecutors add the charges for which she stood trial on Friday.
Her arrest followed a series of investigative reports which had proved embarrassing to the Aliyev administration.
In 2014 Ismayilova reported that Aliyev's two daughters appeared to be connected to Azerbaijan's largest mobile-phone business, Azercell.
Another of Ismayilova's investigations showed the Aliyeva family profiting from the building of a new $134 million (122 million euros) concert venue, the Crystal Hall, which was being prepared to host the Eurovision Song Contest.
Ismayilova is a former correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty based in Prague. Its Baku bureau was raided by the authorities in December, documents and equipment seized, staff detained and expelled. RFE closed the bureau in May but continues to broadcast to Azerbaijan from the Czech Republic.
Editorials in the New York Times and The Washington Post have said her detention is a measure of the repression of free speech in Azerbaijan.
In detention last December Ismayilova sent the following message to her supporters: "You all know why I am here in prison," she wrote. "Uncovering corruption is the real reason. And the only way to prove oppressive regimes wrong is to continue uncovering corruption, to continue defending the rights of oppressed people. Yes, there is a price to pay. But it is worth it!"
jm/jlw (AFP, Reuters)