Case History: Ganimat Zahidov
In November 2007 Ganimat Zahidov was arrested on a trumped-up charge of hooliganism and he was sentenced to four years in prison, but he was released on 11 March 2010. Since his release, he and his family members have been seriously threatened On 24 July 2015, Azerbaijani police raided the homes of Ms Hadidsha Zahidova, Mr Hagani Zahidov and Mr Rovshan Zahidov, who are respectively the mother, nephew and cousin of Ganimat Zahidov. Since 19 July 2015 police have also arrested two of Ganimat's nephews, Messrs Rufat and Tural Zahidov, as well as his cousin Mr Rovshan Zahidov.
Ganimat Zahidov is a chief editor of the newspaper Azadlig (“freedom” in Azerbaijani), which was founded in 1989. As one of the remaining independent news sources on Azerbaijan, it reports about mass media restrictions and human rights violations committed in the country. In 2011 the human rights journalist had to flee to France. In exile, Ganimat Zahidov continued to run "Azadlig" and launched a television program “Azerbaijan Hour” which is broadcast by satellite for a few hours each week. "Azadlig" reports on trials of Azerbaijani human rights defenders detained during the 2014 crackdown on civil society in Azerbaijan.
On 24 July 2015, Azerbaijani police raided the homes of Ms Hadidsha Zahidova, Mr Hagani Zahidov and Mr Rovshan Zahidov, who are respectively the mother, nephew and cousin of human rights journalist Mr Ganimat Zahidov. Since 19 July 2015 police have also arrested two of Ganimat's nephews, Messrs Rufat and Tural Zahidov, as well as his cousin Mr Rovshan Zahidov.
Ganimat Zahidov is a chief editor of the newspaper Azadlig (“freedom” in Azerbaijani), which was founded in 1989. As one of the remaining independent news sources on Azerbaijan, it reports about mass media restrictions and human rights violations committed in the country. Ganimat Zahidov, who was awarded the Reporters Without Borders Austrian section’s press freedom prize in 2009, has already served two and a half years in prison on trumped-up charges. After his release in 2010, he and his family members were seriously threatened and subsequently fled to France in 2011. In exile, he continued to run "Azadlig" and launched a television program “Azerbaijan Hour” which is broadcast by satellite for a few hours each week. "Azadlig" continues to report on trials of Azerbaijani human rights defenders detained during the 2014 crackdown on civil society in Azerbaijan.
On 24 July 2015, police officers raided the homes of Ganimat's mother, Hadidsha Zahidova, and his nephew, Hagani Zahidov, in Meysariya village, Shamakhi district. Hadidsha's personal computer was confiscated. At the same time fifteen persons, some of whom wore police uniform, raided the home of the human rights defender's cousin Rovshan Zahidov. Rovshan is currently detained in Shamakhi following his arrest on 20 July on charges of allegedly refusing to comply with police instructions. During the raid, police officers claim to have found drugs in a jacket belonging to Rovshan. However, his wife is reported to have witnessed police officers planting the drugs beforehand. Following the raid, the police accused him of illegal possession of drugs under Article 234.4.1 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
Rufat Zahidov, Ganimat's nephew, who was arrested by the Baku police at his workplace in the Yasamal district of Baku on 21 July, faces the same charges. Police officers claim to have found drugs in his car during his arrest. If found guilty of these charges, Rovshan and Rufat face up to 12 years' imprisonment.
On 19 July, another nephew of the human rights journalist, Tural Zahidov, was arrested in Shamakhi and held for 30 days on charges of resisting the police, in violation of Article 310 of the Code of Administrative Offences.
Front Line Defenders expresses its grave concern at the raid of the homes and arrests of Ganimat's relatives, which it believes to be an attempt to intimidate the human rights journalist and prevent him from continuing his legitimate work in defence of human rights.
