Thaw in Baku

On May 25, when Ukraine and the West celebrated the release of Nadezhda Savchenko, Azerbaijan had its own reason for joy: journalist Khadija Ismail was released from prison

Khadija and I are of the same generation and even managed to work in the same publication, she is a professional of the highest standard (I know that in a journalistic environment it is not customary to praise a colleague). 16 years ago I left Baku, started working in Belarus, and our communication, alas, gradually faded away. During this time, Khadija managed to head the Baku bureau of Radio Liberty - and the programs immediately became much tougher in relation to the authorities, who did not forgive her for such impudence: under their pressure, Khadija was removed from the leadership of the editorial office. Official Baku, they say, even delivered an ultimatum: either change the editor-in-chief or close the bureau of the radio station, and the American owners had to give in. But the “compromise solution” did not help: in 2014, the Baku office of “Freedom” was closed anyway. But Khadija managed to be noted for her remarkable work as the host of her daily program - “After Work”. None of the Azerbaijani journalists could afford to do what she did on the air: she called famous politicians and public figures to the carpet in the studio and analyzed their flights with them. Khadija was an indisputable authority. In the lobbies of power, they gnashed their teeth, but they could not do anything. Or rather, they didn't decide.

And yet, her name was truly entered into the history of Azerbaijani journalism in 2012: Khadija then conducted her own journalistic investigation, which led her to the conclusion that Ilham Aliyev’s closest associates, including members of his family, were involved in the theft of budget money. Khadija was not talking about millions, but about billions of stolen petrodollars. It was she who, long before the international investigative consortium, told about the Panamanian offshore. Drain tanks of Azerbaijani officialdom (I will not give names and names here) then attacked her with accusations: they say that the Americans, who are preparing a “color revolution” in Azerbaijan, gave her this data.

Hidden cameras were installed at Khadija's house, spicy footage with her friend was filmed and posted on the Internet. She responded with a new series of publications... The authorities hesitated to arrest her for a long time, they insistently offered her to leave the country, they let her go on business trips to Europe, and upon her return they organized a tough search at the Baku airport.

In December 2014, Khadija was arrested on a farcical charge of “inciting suicide”: a statement to the prosecutor’s office was written by her former friend, who claimed that Khadija, with her jealousy, drove him to attempt suicide. True, a month later he posted a video message on YouTube, where he said that he wrote the statement under torture. The court rejected the allegations of the prosecution. Then the enemies of Khadija came from the other side - she was accused of tax violations and sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.

And now Khadija is free. The spring of 2016, as many see it, became a period of thaw in Baku: since March, the authorities have released several political prisoners. Why all of a sudden? The prevailing version is that relations between Baku and Moscow have cooled, a pro-Western tilt has been outlined in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy, and political prisoners are not allowed to enter the West…