The court did not satisfy the Turan agency's claim on violation of the law “On freedom of obtaining information”

Baku/26.01.23/Turan: On January 25, a court session was held at the Baku Administrative Court on the suit of the director of the Turan News Agency  Mehman Aliyev against  OJSC “Azerishig”.

The essence of the claim is that “Azerishig” OJSC did not respond to the information request of the agency within the time limits established by the law “On freedom of obtaining Information”.

On October 10, a group of residents of the village of Buzovna (the old, root part of the Buzovna administrative unit, which includes the village, a complex of multi-apartment buildings, and new arrays of private houses that have arisen in the last 20 years, built mostly illegally) appealed to “Azerishig” with a written complaint about regular breaks in providing the village with electricity, which has been going on for many years. But no one contacted them.

On October 13, the director of "Turan" Mehman Aliyev sent an information request with questions about the causes of power outages and the planned measures to eliminate the problem. The preamble of the request indicated the complaint of citizens, and along with the information request from Turan, a letter from citizens-subscribers dated October 10 was also sent to “Azerishig”.

Having received no response, on November 15, Turan turned to the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva for help in obtaining a response from “Azerishig”. On November 29, the ombudsman's office informed Turan in writing that it had asked “Azerishig” to provide a response to the Turan agency's information request within 10 days. After that, the agency received a letter from “Azerishig” OJSC, dated November 4, signed by the head of the Legal Department, Arif Lazimzade. It stated that the power outages were of a short duration due to maintenance work. In fact, “Azerishig” evaded answering the question posed by the group of subscribers and the Turan agency, as well as solving the problem, which is of a long-term nature.

Mehman Aliyev informed the judge Selma Salahova about all this at the court session.

The representative of “Azerishig” could not answer Turan's questions on the merits. 

Despite this, the judge announced a verdict dismissing Turan's claim, arguing that “Azerishig” had responded to the agency's request for information.

Thus, the judge did not satisfy the request of the director of the agency to adopt a resolution that sets the task for “Azerishig” OJSC to provide detailed answers to all the questions specified in the information request, as well as in accordance with Articles 374 (Violation of the legislation on obtaining information), 382 (Violation of the rights of journalists ) of the Code of Administrative Offenses to issue a special resolution in respect of officials who grossly violate the requirements of the relevant legislation.

The Article 374.1. Restriction of the right to receive open information by the owner of information or issuance of deliberately false information to the applicant entails the fine on individuals in the amount of 100 to 150 manats, on officials in the amount of 500 to 700 manats, on legal entities in the amount of 1500 manat to 2500 manats.

The Article 382. Violation of the rights of journalists.

The Article 382.1. Leaving a journalistic request unanswered within the time limits established by law - entails the fine in the amount of two hundred to three hundred manats.

The Article 382.2. Restriction of provision or refusal to provide a journalist with information, except for the information protected by law - entails the imposition of a fine in the amount of three hundred to five hundred manats. At the trial, the plaintiff presented evidence of a violation of both Articles.

It should also be noted that “Azerishig” OJSC violated:

- The Article 9.3.8 of the Anti-Corruption Law (9.3.8. unreasonably refuses to provide individuals or legal entities with information subject to provision by law or other regulatory legal acts, delays the provision of this information, or provides incomplete or distorted information).

- The Article 17.3. Law on Media (17.3. A written request for information is considered in the manner and terms established by the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "on obtaining information". If within the period specified in this Law, this information loses its efficiency, the request must be answered immediately, and if this is not possible, no later than 24 (twenty-four) hours).

Turan Agency will appeal the court's verdict immediately after receiving the decision.

“Violation of the law on obtaining information in Azerbaijan is systematic. Many departments do not respond to the information requests of the editors, journalists, which seriously impedes their work, as well as the solution and elimination of problems of state and public importance. For 20 years, I personally and other journalists and experts have been raising the issue of access to information, but the state has not taken any measures. Even the new media law does not pay due attention to this. It is necessary to urgently resolve this issue at the level of the presidential administration, because the information work of the state with editorial offices and journalists is in a deplorable state,” Mehman Aliyev said. —0—