Another judgment against the newspaper Azadlig

The Baku Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the newspaper Azadlig, and upheld the judgment against it and its staff Ramin Deco at the suit of the owner of the shopping center Bina Kabira Mamedova.

Earlier the Yasamal district court in Baku on October 22, 2012 at Mamedova’s suit ordered the newspaper Azadlig to pay her AZN 30,000 as compensation for moral damages. The corresponding Deco is to pay the plaintiff 2,000 manat.

The lawsuits were filed in connection with two articles published in the newspaper Azadlig in July last year. They said that after the song contest Eurovision 2012 Mamedova demanded the sellers in the shopping center Bina pay 5000 AZN each due to the fact that the shopping center faced large expenses in connection with the financing of the competition.

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to make the newspaper pay 30,000 manat to the boss of Baku Metro Tagi Akhmedov.

The newspaper does not agree with the court's decision and intends to file an appeal. As the deputy chief editor of Azadlig Sudzheddin Sharifov said, the fantastic court fines aim to punish the newspaper for its critical publication of the government.

The Director of Media Rights Institute Rashid Hajili assessed the decisions of the courts as unfair. In his view, these verdicts are part of a plan to silence the newspaper. According to the newspaper, the court verdicts were ordered, as evidenced by the same amounts of the fines. Experts believe that this is aimed at depriving the economic basis for the newspaper publishing and elimination of the opposition newspaper on the eve of the presidential election. -06B –