2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Seymur Hazi
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 1 December 2016 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Seymur Hazi, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8fa13.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
| Seymur Hazi, Azadliq | |
|---|---|
| Medium: | |
| Charge: | Retaliatory |
| Imprisoned: | August 29, 2014 |
Police in the eastern Absheron district arrested Hazi, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Azadliq, over claims that he attacked a man at a bus stop, the independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel reported. The day after his arrest, the Absheron District Court ordered the journalist, who also uses the name Haziyev, to be held in pretrial detention for two months, the report said. He was charged with hooliganism.
Authorities said that while waiting for a bus on his way to work, Hazi beat a Baku resident named Magerram Hasanov, according to Kavkazsky Uzel. Hazi said in court that he had acted in self-defense, Kavkazsky Uzel reported. He said Hasanov had insulted and attacked him. Elton Guliyev, the journalist's lawyer, told Kavkazsky Uzel that he believed authorities had orchestrated the altercation because police arrived moments after it started. Guliyev said he believes Hazi was imprisoned in retaliation for his journalism.
Hazi often criticized the Azerbaijani government's domestic and foreign policies in his reports for Azadliq, according to Kavkazsky Uzel. As a host for Azadliq's online TV program "Azerbaijan Saati" (Azerbaijani Hour), he was critical of government corruption and human rights abuses.
Hazi was sentenced to five years in jail on January 29, 2015. A court upheld the sentence on September 29, 2015, according to the local press freedom group, Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety.
In 2016, Hazi received the Free Media Award, presented jointly by the Olso-based Fritt Ord and the Hamburg-based ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius foundations, for reporting on corruption and the abuse of power.
Hazi is being held at Baku Investigative Prison No. 1. In late 2016, CPJ could not determine the state of his health.
