Site owner fined for refusal to remove the publication from facebook

Baku/04.02.22/Turan: Azərmedia LLC, owner of the website yeniavaz.az, has been fined 1500 manats for the publication of critical material.

This decision was adopted by Baku Nasimi Court on 3 February comply with an administrative protocol submitted by the General Prosecutor's Office.

 Head of Azərmedia Anar Garakhanchally says that on 20 January he was summoned to the General Prosecutor's Office where he was demanded to remove the link to the publication from site yeniavaz.az on facebook:

"Prosecutor's Office: Tofig Yagublu brought himself to this condition by beating himself with his own fists." https://www.facebook.com/yeniavaz2016/posts/4803980149690413

This article was published on yeniavaz.az, https://www.yeniavaz.com/az/news/186737/prokurorluq-tofiq-yaqublu-ozunu-yumruqlayaraq-bu-hala-salib-fotolar?fbclid=IwAR27nbstPLhTJIw4VxjWUX86nfeCzUM3EoWAYGL_BLv-sOjvvc7jNoQ83Ss.

The material deals with the refusal of Sabail prosecutor's office to open a criminal case idue to the beating of opposition politician Tofig Yagublu after his detention by the police.

Sabail district prosecutor's office found that Tofig Yagublu "started beating himself against the wall" at the police station and then "beat his face with his fists".

According to Garakhanchally, the claims of the General Prosecutor's Office were not about the content of the article, but about its title and the comments of Facebook users. He was made to understand that such a headline initiated relevant, i.e. critical comments.

He was demanded to delete the publication from facebook which would have meant the automatic disappearance of the comments as well.

However, Garakhanchally refused to do so as citing that the publication bore no responsibility for users' comments.

After this, an administrative case under Article 388-1.1.2 (placement by the owner or user of an Internet resource of information prohibited for distribution on an Internet resource, and the refusal to remove it) was filed against the site founder and was sent to the Nasimi district court.

The court considered the case on February 3. "At the trial, the representative of the prosecutor's office said that the management of the site was obliged to remove defamatory, insulting comments and for this they are responsible," Azərmedia lawyer Nemat Kerimli told Turan.

However, according to him, there was no violation of the law. "There is no obligation in any law to remove a publication if there is nothing illegal in it. As for users' comments, the publication bears no responsibility for them," Kerimli said.

Nevertheless, on the basis of the report of the General Prosecutor's Office the judge imposed a fine of 1,500 manat ($900) on Azərmedia. The lawyer said that an appeal will be filed against the decision.

On January 24 the General Prosecutor's Office reported the transfer of an administrative case against "LLC Azərmedia" to the court. It was also reported that citizen Namig Aliyev was subjected to administrative arrest for a month for spreading content contrary to the law on facebook page yeniavaz.az. -06B-