The boundaries of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan are becoming narrower, and to counteract this, only consolidated efforts of civil society are needed. That was the main leitmotif of the round table on the theme: "The state of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan", held on December 10 on the occasion of the International Day of Human Rights in the Media Centre. The meeting was organized by the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS), the Institute of Media Rights (IMR) and International Media Support.
As the director of the IMR Rashid Hajili said, an indicator of the state of freedom of expression is the imprisonment of 9 Azerbaijani journalists and civil society activists. Another indicator is the situation with the newspaper Azadlig, which is in the grip of financial pressure because of court fines and debts to the publisher.
IRFS Director Emin Huseynov noted that in the wake of the conduction of two major international events - Eurovision and the Global Forum on Internet Governance in Baku this year, they managed to draw the attention of the world to the issue of human rights. However, despite this the situation has not improved.
Problems with freedom of expression challenge the conduct of free and fair presidential elections in 2013. Therefore, the civil society should focus on this issue and urge international organizations to pay more attention to this.
He reported on the dismantling of satellite aerials from the roofs of houses in Baku, which is associated with the desire of the authorities to prevent the viewing of TV programs Radio Liberty and TV shows by the Azadlig newspaper.
The Director of regional programs of International Media Support Gulnara Akhundova stated the poor job of protecting the freedom of expression on the part of the Ombudsman. She proposed the creation of a working group under the Ombudsman in response to violations of the freedom of expression.
The IMR representative Khalid Agaly indicated an increasing trend in filing civil lawsuits against newspapers. To date, the amount of fines required from newspapers exceeds 4 mln. Most fined are the newspapers Azadlig and Yeni Musavat, whose existence is now under question. Another problem is the unwillingness of printers to print opposition papers.
The participants were unanimous that it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the civil society to counter this pressure. -06C-
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