The journalists of the South Caucasus: the situation in the region deteriorates

"Violations of the rights of journalists in the South Caucasus - the problem of the fourth power," was the theme of regular civil proceedings last Saturday at the Tbilisi international press center of RIA Novosti.

The discussions were held in the framework of "symbolic Caucasian Court of Human Rights and Civil proceedings serving democracy of Caucasus countries" with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED.)

Journalists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia: Parvana Bayramova (Azerbaijan), Yuri Manvelyan (Armenia), Nana Plieva (Georgia) talked about the facts and examples of violations of journalists' rights in their countries. Moderator became Chairman CCPMI, George Vanian (Armenia).

Nana Plieva focused attention on the close after the parliamentary elections the satellite channel "PIC" represented by her. Money allocated to funding the channel suddenly disappeared, and 40 employees were fired. The fate of television remains unclear until a new government determines next year's budget.

The editor of the Armenian portal epress.am Yuri Manvelyan talked of the deterioration in press freedom in his country. The press itself and the advertising media market are under control.

Correspondent of Turan news agency, Parvana Bayramova, focused on problems with the freedom of media in Azerbaijan. She stated the facts on the imprisonment of journalists, physical attacks on them, the use of court fines against the media, limited advertising market and limiting access to information.

The author and director of the program Symbolic Caucasian Court of Human Rights and Civil proceedings in the service of democracy Caucasus Countries is Professor Niyazi Mehdi (Azerbaijan). Organizers  are  the Alliance of Women for Civil Society (Azerbaijan), CCPMI (Armenia), Caucasian Center for Civil Proceedings (Georgia).—16D--