A top spokesman for Ilham Aliyev's government said all rights violations and crimes committed against journalists are closely investigated and that a single incident does not mean that freedom of speech is endangered in the Caspian Sea state.

"We don't consider this to be a specific trend in Azerbaijan. These are isolated, random events against which specific measures are taken," said Ali Hasanov, head of the presidential administration's social-political department.

He said there were about 400 free and independent publications in Azerbaijan today - evidence, he said, of the country's attitude toward the media. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/