Watchdog

BAKU -- The trial of journalist Eynulla Fatullayev on charges of illegal possession of drugs while in prison has begun in a Baku court, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

Fatullayev told the judge on April 9 at the start of his trial that he although he is innocent, he is certain he will be found guilty of the charges and sentenced to a fourth prison term.

Fatullayev was first jailed in 2007 for allegedly insulting the victims of the killings in Khojali -- where in 1992 Azeri civilians were killed by Armenian forces -- and subsequently on charges of instigating terrorism and tax evasion.

The consecutive prison terms add up to 8 and 1/2 years.

Fatullayev, who was editor of the independent newspaper "Realny Azerbaijan," claims the drugs were planted in his cell in December to create the pretext for keeping him in prison after the European Court of Human Rights issues a ruling on his appeal against his earlier convictions.

The court in Strasbourg is expected to announce its verdict this month.

Fatullayev demanded that further tests be conducted on blood samples that the prosecution claims prove he was using drugs, and that the experts who carry out those tests be summoned as witnesses together with fellow prisoners with whom he has regular contact.

The court has agreed to those requests.

International human rights organizations say Fatullayev's imprisonment is politically motivated and is "illegal." They have called on the authorities to release him.

Fatullayev was initially charged in 2007, months after he published an article in "Realny Azerbaijan" in which he accused senior Azerbaijani officials of ordering the 2005 killing of fellow journalist Elmar Huseynov.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi says she hopes Armenian officials will listen to international human rights activists pleas and release a dozen jailed opposition activists, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

Ebadi spoke to RFE/RL on April 7 following a visit to a Yerevan prison and its hospital. She said she is glad the Armenian authorities kept their promise -- given to her personally by President Serzh Sarkisian on April 6 -- to allow her to visit the prison.

However, Ebadi said she could not meet the prisoners in their cells or prison hospital inmates within the medical premises of the hospital, and instead saw them in special visitor rooms. She said such meetings kept her from seeing what conditions the prisoners live in.

Ebadi was in Yerevan for a two-day conference by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) that was attended by some 300 rights activists from around the world.

She also was among a group of international activists who attended the rally of the main opposition Armenian National Congress on April 6. The rally, which was organized by the alliance led by opposition leader and former President Levon Ter-Petrossian, focused on the issue of people the opposition considers political prisoners.

Opposition parties say at least a dozen of their leaders and activists are political prisoners. Officials deny holding any political prisoners and say those opposition activists who are in prison were convicted because they broke the law.

But Ebadi, like other delegates from the FIDH conference, described the imprisoned oppositionists as political prisoners when they addressed the opposition rally.

Ebadi dismissed suggestions by journalists that hosting the FIDH conference in Yerevan would send the wrong message about Armenia's human rights record.

"When the FIDH decided to hold its meeting in [Armenia], your country enjoyed a better situation than the other countries in the region," she said. "When we decided to hold our meeting here, we didn't say or believe there are no human rights violations here."

A lawyer and former judge, Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Iran.

"There are numerous journalists who are in prison in Iran right now," Ebadi added. "We cannot hold meetings like this in my country."