CPJ urged Azerbaijani authorities to release journalist Vugar Mammadov

Baku/29.07.23/Turan: Azerbaijani authorities should release journalist Vugar Mammadov and stop harassing media representatives for covering issues of public interest, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On Monday, 24 July, Baku's Narimanov district court sentenced Mammadov, editor-in-chief of the independent "Hurriyet" news agency, to 30 days in custody for disseminating banned information about the armed forces, CPJ noted.

"The court's verdict, which CPJ has seen, mentioned at least three interviews Mammadov had with former Colonel Elnur Mammadov, the last of which took place on July 19. The ex-officer criticised the state of the country's armed forces and accused Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov of mismanagement and corruption," CPJ further said in a statement.

Elnur Mammadov, who is not a relative of the journalist, was also imprisoned for 30 days on the same charge, the journalist organisation's statement stressed.

"The imprisonment of journalist Vugar Mammadov in retaliation for publishing critical views on Azerbaijani military officials is completely unacceptable and should be immediately reversed," CPJ's Europe and Central Asia programme coordinator Gulnoza Said said in New York.

"The authorities must respect their international obligations regarding freedom of expression and stop retaliating against journalists for simply doing their jobs," she stressed.

The CPJ statement also quoted Bayramov as saying that Vugar Mammadov, who was taken into custody from the courtroom, plans to appeal the verdict. The lawyer said that no prohibited information was disseminated during the interview, which under Azerbaijani law may include state secrets along with other categories of information, and Mammadov was punished for expressing critical views of his guest.

CPJ also quotes media law expert Khalid Agaliyev, who said that journalists can be held liable under Azerbaijani law for statements made by their interlocutors. But in this case, in his opinion, "the goal of the authorities was to intimidate journalists and ordinary people from expressing criticism".

Elnur Mammadov is known for his criticism of Defence Ministry officials, which previously resulted in a six-month prison sentence in October 2022, CPJ points out.

Neither the verdict nor the report from the General Prosecutor's Office, however, provided any additional details about the prohibited information Mammadov disseminated, CPJ said in a statement.

The organisation asked the General Prosecutor's Office and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice for comment, but received no answers. -----06В-