Azerbaijani anti-government activist gets UNESCO prize

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has been named 2012 laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

Fatullayev, 35, is the former editor-in-chief and founder of the popular independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan (Real Azerbaijan) and the Azeri-language daily Gundalik Azarbaycan (Azerbaijan Daily) newspapers.

He was imprisoned on fabricated charges in April 2007 after publishing an in-depth piece highly critical of the official investigation into the murder of his former boss and mentor, Elmar Huseynov. Sentenced to eight and a half years, had another two and a half years added to his term in 2009. Baku defied a March 2010 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights which ordered his immediate release. In 2009, CPJ honored Fatullayev with an International Press Freedom Award. He was finally released with a presidential pardon in 2011.

The UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997 by UNESCO’s Executive Board. It is awarded annually during the celebration of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, and honors the work of an individual or an organization defending or promoting freedom of expression anywhere in the world, especially if this action puts the individual’s life at risk. Candidates are proposed by UNESCO Member States, and regional or international organizations that defend and promote freedom of expression.

Laureates are chosen by a jury whose members are named for a once renewable three-year term by the Director-General of UNESCO.