On the night of August 9th the journalist Rasim Aliyev died of numerous injuries at the Clinical Medical Center of Baku. The man, who was making plans for a future family life with his bride a few days ago, was cruelly beaten by a group of young people for his post on Facebook about a football player of Qabala FC, Javid Huseinov. The comment wasn't unpleasant, merely censorial. “I don’t want such an ill-bred football player with bad manners representing Azerbaijan in Europe,” he wrote. The journalist paid with his life for these words. Javid Huseinov was arrested for “suppression of a crime.” He won’t represent Azerbaijan in Europe any more.
According to the investigation and the journalist’s ante mortem statement, friends of the footballer called Rasim Aliyev to invite him “to have a cup of tea” and discuss the conflict. The problem seemed to have been solved at the time, as Aliyev and the football player had talked by telephone earlier. The offer to drink a “peacemaking” cup of tea turned out to be a cruel trap. Inviting the journalist to a night meeting, five young people, headed by cousin of Javid Huseinov, professional football player Elshan Ismailov, cruelly beat Rasim and escaped from the scene of the crime.
Security cameras recorded the probable criminals, and it was just a matter of time before they were caught. Javid Huseinov, the “offended” footballer, was also arrested. Instead of a successful football career, they will most probably get prison terms. Considering the big social response, none of the arrestees will manage to avoid punishment. Their deed has caused deep social contempt in the country: it is unmanly for five men to attack a person for words which are not a serious insult.
Rasim Aliyev was not a timid journalist. He used to suffer physical pressure by law-enforcement agencies during his photo and video reports from demonstrations and meetings. Apparently he viewed the government critically and cooperated with opposition information agencies and NGOs. At the same time, he had never been an exclusively “political” journalist.
When one reads statements by Azerbaijani opposition activists, the EU, and the OSCE, one could think that the journalist’s death is being used for another painful “shot” at the Azerbaijani government. Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, addressed President Ilham Aliyev to stress a rapidly worsening situation with freedom of the media in the country and urged him to provide security for journalists. “Unfortunately, I should say that there is no work in that direction being done,” Mijatović said, noting that Rasim Aliyev’s death should have been a signal that something had to be done.
The EU pointed out the necessity of establishing safe conditions for journalists’ activities in Azerbaijan. Opposition Azerbaijani human rights activists, from the Institute of Reporters Freedom and Security, as far as I remember, to which Rasim Aliyev belonged, blamed the political leadership of Azerbaijan for the murder.
The murder of Rasim Aliyev is a foul crime, a senseless domestic crime which leaves an odious feeling in your soul and makes you think about moral and valuable guides for modern youth. Using the name of the killed journalist for political interests is not a noble business. European politicians may not understand this, but the colleagues of Rasim Aliyev have to realize this. Sometimes one should be above political conflicts.
Vestnik Kavkaza expresses deep condolences to the family and friends of Rasim. As they say in Azerbaijan, “Allah rehmet elesin.”
