PACE co-rapporteurs met with representatives of Azerbaijan's independent media

Baku/06.06.23/Turan: The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on monitoring Azerbaijan, Jan Liddell-Grainger (Great Britain) and Liz Christoffersen (Norway), met with representatives of the country's independent media during their visit to Azerbaijan on June 6.

During the meeting, at which he participated, and an employee of the Turan agency, the situation of the media was discussed.

Representatives of the media community pointed to restrictions on freedom of the press and information.

In particular, it was pointed out that the new law on the media hung like a “Sword of Damocles” over independent media. It obliges the media to enter the state register of media, however, strict conditions have been put forward for this. More than 40 media have already been denied inclusion in the register.

It was also pointed to the blocking of websites of a number of media outlets, failure to investigate crimes against journalists, the limited advertising market and access to it only by state and pro-government media outlets, and the persecution of unwanted journalists in criminal and administrative cases.

PACE representatives said that they would use the information received in the preparation of a report assessing the fulfillment by Azerbaijan of its obligations to the Council of Europe. -06B-