Communicated on 7 January 2016
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 35283/14
Khadija ISMAYILOVA
against Azerbaijan
lodged on 23 April 2014
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Ms Khadija Rovshan qizi Ismayilova, is an Azerbaijani national, who was born in 1976 and lives in Baku. She is represented before the Court by Mr R. Hajili and Ms Z. Sadigova, lawyers practising in Azerbaijan.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
A. Background
The applicant has been a renowned investigative journalist since 2005. She worked as a staff reporter and director at the Azeri service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, whose broadcasts were often critical of the Azerbaijani government, covering topics such as government corruption and violations of human rights. In addition, she worked as a regional coordinator for the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, where she trained journalists in investigative journalism and cross-border reporting.
The applicant conducted journalistic investigations into corruption in Azerbaijan. Between 2010 and 2012 she published and contributed to several articles concerning allegations of corruption in the Azerbaijani President’s family .
According to the applicant, she began receiving threats after the publication of her articles. On 7 March 2012 she received an anonymous letter threatening that a secretly filmed video of her of an intimate nature would be made public. On 14 March 2012 a video was posted online, featuring scenes of a sexual nature involving the applicant and her boyfriend, taken with a hidden camera secretly installed in her bedroom. Following a complaint by the applicant, a criminal investigation was launched, which is still pending.
At around the same time as the posting of the video, a number of articles criticising the applicant were published in pro-government newspapers.
In the summer of 2013 another video, filmed with the same hidden camera, was posted on the Internet.
The above events are the subject of two separate applications (nos. 65286/13 and 57270/14).
Following the events giving rise to the present application, in December 2014 the applicant was arrested and detained on a charge of having incited a former colleague to commit suicide. In February 2015 she was additionally charged with the criminal offences of large-scale misappropriation, illegal entrepreneurship, large-scale tax evasion and abuse of power in connection with her activity as the director of the Azeri service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty between 1 July 2008 and 1 October 2010. The events relating to her arrest and detention are the subject of a separate application (no. 30778/15). On 1 September 2015 the applicant was sentenced to seven and a half years’ imprisonment.
B. Events complained of in the present case
On 6 November 2012 the newspaper Ses published an article criticising opposition-oriented journalists (“Tarixi deputatxana”). The article stated that the applicant should be given a seat in the Public Chamber (İctimai Palata), an opposition organisation, and should be named “Porn star Cicciolina”. It further stated that opposition journalists should “enjoy” her, named some of those journalists, and made further remarks implying that she was promiscuous and immoral.
The applicant brought an action against the newspaper, claiming that the article tarnished her honour and dignity. She argued that the article had used the incident with the hidden video for the purpose of insulting her and damaging her reputation. She claimed that the article was part of a larger campaign mounted against her in retaliation for her journalistic activity. She sought compensation for distress in the amount of 50,000 Azerbaijani manats.
By a judgment of 13 February 2013 the Sabail District Court dismissed the applicant’s claim, finding that the statements made in the article were a manifestation of the author’s independent thought and his freedom of expression and did not constitute an infringement of the applicant’s honour and dignity.
The applicant appealed. On 13 June 2013 the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the first-instance court. Following a further appeal by the applicant, on 23 October 2013 the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ judgments.
COMPLAINTS
1. The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention that the respondent State failed to comply with its positive obligation to protect her reputation against the interference by the Ses newspaper in its article of 6 November 2012.
2. The applicant complains under Article 10 of the Convention that the newspaper article published on 6 November 2012 was part of a wider campaign of threats and attacks against her and interference with her privacy, which were clearly linked to her journalistic work.
3. The applicant complains under Article 6 of the Convention that the domestic courts did not address the relevant arguments raised by her and thus breached her right to a reasoned decision.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has there been an interference with the applicant’s right to respect for her private life, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention, and if so was that interference in accordance with the law and necessary in terms of Article 8 § 2? Did the situation give rise to positive obligations on the State under Article 8 of the Convention and, if so, have they been complied with?
2. Has there been an interference with the applicant’s freedom of expression, in particular her right to receive and impart information and ideas, within the meaning of Article 10 § 1 of the Convention? If so, was that interference prescribed by law and necessary in terms of Article 10 § 2?
3. Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of her civil rights and obligations, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
4. Each party is requested to provide an English translation of the article (titled “Tarixi deputatxana” in Azerbaijani) published in the newspaper Ses on 6 November 2012.
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy