Hafiz Babaly
The consideration of the lawsuit filed by Hafiz Babaly, the editor of the economics department at Turan news agency, against the online publication Qafqazinfo.az, is being unjustifiably delayed. Babaly had been arrested in connection with the Abzas Media case.
Recall that the lawsuit was filed following the publication of the article "New Details on the Hafiz Babaly Case" on the Qafqazinfo.az website on December 28, 2023. Babaly claims the article contained defamatory and offensive information that damaged his honor, dignity, and professional reputation. Specifically, the article suggested that "Babaly received grants from Western donors and wrote articles at their request." Babaly denies these allegations, stating that his investigations were part of his journalistic work. Moreover, no claims were made regarding his investigations or published articles, and the information in these materials has not been disproven by any administrative body or contested in court. Babaly also called the statement that "Azerbaijani political émigrants in Europe were involved in projects with Hafiz Babaly" defamatory.
Babaly has requested that the court compel the publication to retract the defamatory statements, apologize, and pay compensation of 9,900 manats, as well as cover legal costs of 119 manats.
Babaly filed the lawsuit in the spring of last year. The hearings have been repeatedly postponed. In early October, the court decided to send the text for a judicial-linguistic examination.
According to civil procedure law, the examination should be conducted, and its results should be presented to the court within a month. Alternatively, the court should refuse to conduct the examination within the given time frame, Babaly's lawyer, Rasul Jafarov, explained to Turan. In Babaly’s case, neither of these actions has been taken.
In exceptional cases, the experts can request an extension of time from the court for their work. However, in this case, that has not happened either.
Therefore, Jafarov approached the court last week with a request to either ensure the conclusion of the examination is obtained or to proceed with the case without the examination. However, there has been no response to this request. Babaly also plans to file a complaint about the court’s inaction with the Judicial-Legal Council.
*Hafiz Babaly was arrested in December 2023 on charges of "currency smuggling" and other economic crimes. Human rights defenders have recognized Babaly as a political prisoner.
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