PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP GROUP FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION MISSION TO AZERBAIJAN
International Federation of journalists, Media Diversity Institute, Open society Foundations, Press Now, Reporters without borders, Worlds association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
In Azerbaijan journalists, bloggers and activists face serious and widespread systemic challenges, and forced to carry out their work in a climate of endemic impunity and under persistent pressure from authorities,
reads the preliminary statement of the mission.
The main problems for media in Azerbaijan are: impunity for those who kill or harass journalists and bloggers, State influence on media and absence of pluralism on broadcasting media, economic pressure of the state to printing media by means of adverts distributing, using of existing legislation for penalize critical voices, using of defamation, etc.
The Mission recommends to authorities:
- Immediate and unconditional release of journalists from prison,
- Initiate a thorough, prompt and independent investigation of all violence against journalists,
- Decriminalize defamation,
- Establish fair conditions for allocation of state advertising,
- Establish an independent broadcasting regulatory body,
- Reverse the ban prohibiting foreign entities from broadcasting on national frequencies,
- Invest in Internet infrastructure,
- Preserve and protect freedom online, etc.
`Finally we call on the international community particularly those countries with economic and political ties to Azerbaijan, to hold the government accountable for its freedom of expression record`,-
reads the statement.
Politics
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will hold talks in Moscow on January 17 and make statements for the press, according to the Kremlin's press service.
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On January 13, the trial in the case of public activist Nijat Ibrahim continued in the Baku Serious Crimes Court under the chairmanship of Judge Aygun Gurbanova. The trial was suspended after Ibrahim, in protest against the illegal arrest, began banging his head against the "aquarium cage", trying to commit suicide. At the beginning of the trial, he stated that he had been illegally detained for 4 months, and because of this, his family in Moldova was in a difficult situation, Turan announced this on its Twitter.
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The International Committee of Concerned Scholars (ICS) has appealed to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, requesting his assistance in securing the release of the arrested researcher, Igbal Abilov. The ICS expressed concern that Abilov's arrest "may be related to his research on ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan, conducted in collaboration with scholars from Armenia."
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Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maka Botchorishvili, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Georgia, Faig Guliyev.
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