The co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Pedro Agramunt and Joseph Debono Grech held a meeting on May 19 in Baku office of the Council of Europe with the heads of a number of media and journalistic organizations.
The meeting was attended by the head of the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety Emin Huseynov , the manager of the Azerbaijan Media Center, Gulnara Akhundova , radio commentator of "Azadliq" Khadija Imaylova , editor of the newspaper "Yeni Musavat" Rauf Arifoglu, editor of the newspaper "The Mirror" Elchin Shikhlinski , director of " Turan " Mekhman Aliyev , editor of the newspaper "BizimYol" Bahaddin Haziyev, and the expert of the Media Rights Institute, Khalid Agaliyev.
Media representatives were invited to provide the rapporteurs with objective information on the real state of freedom of expression, and, in particular, the situation in the Azerbaijani media over the last year.
The state of freedom of speech and expression continued to deteriorate. This conclusion followed from the speeches of all present journalists and experts. "Ten journalists are in prison," said Khalid Agaliyev.
Emin Huseynov reminded about the arrested journalists Rauf Mirkadyrov, Parviz Hashimli , Avaz Zeinally , Hilal Mamedov , as well as the fact of beating the reporters. He also presented a report on politically motivated arrest of Emil Mammadov, the head of the NGO "Democracy Promotion."
The leaders of the oldest newspapers in Azerbaijan reported that once flagship publication are now on the verge of closure due to government measures to restrict the retail sale and advertising. Daily newspaper "The Mirror" was forced to go to the weekly format, and the circulation of "Yeni Musavat" dropped by two thirds.
Despite official claims about the 70% internet coverage, many users do not have access to online media. "The Internet is not independent , since all traffic of controlled by government providers," said Khadija Ismailova.
According to the Media Rights Institute, the legislation in the field of freedom of speech and expression has toughened. In particular, they introduced the punishment for defamation on the Internet, and the government is not willing to comply with the obligation to decriminalize legislation freedom of speech.—0—
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