Amendments to Law on Mass Media Reinforcing Censorship in Wartime

Baku / 02.03.18 / Turan: At the session of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament) on May 1, several changes were introduced to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Law on Mass Media.

The changes concern media activities in wartime. Thus, Article 517-2.15 was added to Article 517, entitled "Violation of the requirements of the state of emergency", which implies a penalty for not complying with the emergency regime in the martial law zone. The size of the fine is from 1,000 to 1,500 manat for officials, and from 6,000 to 8,000 manat for legal entities.

As for changes to the law on the media, they are connected with censorship. Thus, in the current version, in the article "Inadmissibility of censorship" the ban on censorship is excluded in two cases: in a state of emergency and during force operations related to religious extremism.

The changes introduced expand this framework and henceforth information will be subjected to military censorship during the period of martial law. In addition, in the territory where the martial law will operate, a special mode of operation will be applied to the media.

The changes made to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Law "On Mass Media" are justified by the Law "On Martial Law" adopted last year. This law creates conditions for limiting the media activities, as well as the use of military censorship during martial law. -0-