“Media and Courts” Roundtable

On 15 January 2008 a roundtable on “Media and Courts” was held, at the initiative of the Institute for Peace and Democracy. The institute’s director Leyla Yunus (right) opened roundtable noting that last year the press condition was too severe, journalists were imprisoned, there was pressure on the press and court decisions was adopted against mass media institutions and journalists. (16-JAN-2008)
    
Written by Shahla Ismailova/HRH Azerbaijan on the basis of materials from IRFS

According to Media Rights Institute staff member Khalid Agaliyev, in 2007 more than 100 lawsuits and complaints were filed against the media, 10 times more than complaints than were filed during the election year 2005. In his speech, Agaliyev spoke about the results of monitoring conducted by Media Rights Institute in 2007. It was emphasized that, most lawsuits against the press were filed by high-ranking state officials. “Interior Minister Ramil Usubov filed most lawsuits against the press,” said Agaliyev.

Then Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety director Emin Huseynov (right) made a speech and noted that “Beside the Ministry of Interior, we have witnessed pressure from the Ministry of National Security. Journalists are completely searched before the court hearings for three journalists; Sakit Zahidov, Eynulla Fatullayev and Ganimat Zahidov, and journalists are forbidden from using any dictaphones, photo cameras and video cameras during Zahidov, Zahid and Fatullayev’s court hearings. M.Huseynov’s imprisonment was carried out by the Ministry of National Security anti-terror department.”

Other opinions were also expressed during the meeting. Lawyer Annagi Hajibeyli noted that, “Some changes must be made to the Civil Code related to moral damages, because the concept of moral damage has not been determined by any Civil Code theses. This loophole has resulted in the inclusion of high fines in petitions to the court and decisions.” It was also suggested at today’s roundtable to adopt the law on defamation and to ensure open court hearings.

Recommendations proposed
Recommendations related to court practices in the area of media freedom are as follows:
• To put moratorium on Criminal Code article containing criminal punishments due to libel and insult;
• To prepare a law defining civil responsibility due to defamation and adopt it within a short period of time;
• To use precedents from the European Court on Human Rights when considering cases against the media
• To provide trainings/instructions for judges to use when considering defamation cases.