14:19, 21 July 2004

RSF demands releasing Arifoglu

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres or RSF), the international organization for the protection of freedom of the press, has demanded that Azerbaijan's authorities should release Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of Yeni Musavat newspaper, who has been in prison for nine months. Today's statement of RSF says National Press Day is marked in Azerbaijan on July 22. In connection with this event, Reporters Without Borders call on the government for releasing Rauf Arifoglu who has been behind bars since October 27, 2003. "Such a gesture would demonstrate the government's actual wish to honor its obligations to the European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE," the RSF statement says.

Rauf Arifoglu and six other oppositionists went on trial on May 7, 2004. They are all charged with organizing mass disorders on October 15-16, 2003, and they are threatened with up to seven years in prison.

Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent