Chechen Journalist Arrested and Freed in Azerbaijan
On October 13, Asya Umarova, one of the most promising young journalists in Chechnya , has been arrested and freed in Azerbaijan.
Asya Umarova traveled to Azerbaijan after attending a journalism seminar entitled “Journalists for Peace” in Tbilisi, Georgia, on October 12, 2009 which was attended other journalists from different parts of Caucasus. Andrei Babitsky, the well-known journalist of Radio Liberty, lead to seminar in Tblisi. It doesn’t known why Asya Umarova didn’t back to Chechnya and went to Azerbaijan. Information of her arrest has been reported in Russian and other regional media. According to last news from Azerbaijan, Asya Umarova freed, the reason of her arrest was crossing stamp of Armenia border in her passport.
Asya will only turn 24 years old in this November, but she is already an accomplished journalist and activist. She has been writing articles about the situation in Chechnya, especially about highly sensitive issues of armed conflict and human rights for local and international media outlets for several years, while pursuing a journalism degree at Chechen State University, where she graduated in 2008. In spring 2007, she won the prestigious Minorities Fellowship of the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and spent several months in Geneva and Strasbourg , receiving training in international human rights law and practice. In 2008, she received a fellowship to pursue a one-year professional course in journalism at the Caucasus Institute in Erevan , Armenia , from which she graduated in summer 2009. In addition to studying and working as a journalist, Asya has also volunteered with local and international human rights and conflict resolution initiatives, beginning her activism when she was only a teenager. She has traveled to Europe and around the Caucasus to engage in advocacy, training and professional exchanges, driven by a hunger to learn and become the most professional and effective journalist she could be as well as an expert on human rights.
Chechen girl in Armenia… it is really stange! Hok1 yo1i kertah borsha nah bac hagareh. Amma ha a du huna ermloshak a podli k1am oc yokxachu kavkazah dac hun, Grozneh sovet zamanchoh chog1a duk1 bar ush, hokxa shina t1aman zamanchoh vaina zabarenna a yuhe g1oda ca byahki ush. 1992 sharah Djovhars Angli vahitina volu sho nohchi, nohchi ahch daita, ermlosh ve vina kusokash yina t1ormagash choh cyarshinna dak1 ara dyak1nera otelera, Nohchesh ishta huma dinereh hinca a ducush xir dar iz ermlosh. Amma vaina dic da ca deza Vaina nohcheshna vai varay daisha haram bina nah bu ush gergalo lelada, chog1 k1ilah lerina du ermlo yala er. Hok1 yo1o c’ha1 lelosh hir duk1, pal bu k1u t1eh bazbinarg. Suna s’hahetareh shena ma tov lelash yo hara zuda… k1unah k1onah yo1 ya g1erta oshush du motash vac so. Dalla İmanchu bala boila vai zudari, Duk1a borsha nah d1ak1yastna vay, haja da vocush duk1 bu bola a bella lelash!