Ali Hasanov: Azerbaijan Does Not Hurry to Adopt Law on Defamation

On Tuesday Baku hosts a conference entitled: The European Practice in the Field of Defamation and Freedom of Expression.

The event was organized by the European Union and the Council of Europe in cooperation with the authorities of Azerbaijan. The purpose of the conference is an open debate about how to improve national legislation on defamation and journalistic practices.

Speaking at the opening, the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan on socio-political affairs Ali Hasanov spoke at length about the achievements of the government and its strategy for the protection of freedom of speech and press.

He assured that all the conditions for the collection and dissemination of information have been created at the legislative and practical level.

Referring to the possibility of the adoption of the law on defamation, Hasanov admitted that the relevant bills were prepared in 2005, 2011 and 2013 and submitted for discussion to the public.

"The discussions have shown that the facts of abuse on the media pages are numerous, the economic condition of the media is the weak, and political confrontation in society is high. In this situation, the adoption of a law on defamation could create the opposite effect and could further complicate the situation. So initially it is necessary to eliminate the above-mentioned reasons, and only then consider the adoption of such a law," said Hasanov.

He assured that the authorities just solve issues of economic independence of the press, raise the level of journalists' professionalism and care about their objectivity. But his assessment of the deplorable state of the press is contrary to his own assurances that all is good with it.

Hasanov also said that on the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan since 2009, a "moratorium" has been introduced on criminalizing the media for defamation. "Since then, until today, criminal charges against journalists under Articles 147 and 148 (defamation and insult) are not applied or dealt with under civil law," Hasanov said. (Note that after the "moratorium" the courts handed down guilty verdicts in criminal defamation cases against the journalist Khadija Ismayilova at the suit of the former opposition member Elman Turkoglu and against the filmmaker Eldaniz Guliyev - at the suit of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Ramil Usubov and a number of other cases).

In his opinion, abolition of the punishment for defamation and insult would mean a violation of the rights of other citizens to defend their honor and dignity. At the same time, Hasanov cited the experience of European countries, where the punishment for such a violation is not canceled. -02D-