Threat of Arrest again Looms over Journalist Anar Mammadov

Baku / 01.06.20 / Turan: Anar Mammadov, editor-in-chief of the Criminal.az website, is again faced with the threat of arrest. In particular, in the Agdam district court, the trial is resumed on the suit of the head of Malahat LLC Malahat Gurbanova. The trial is scheduled for June 4.

The reason for the lawsuit is the articles: “The ex-minister sues Pawnshop Malahat (Keçmiş nazir" Lombard Məlahət "i məhkəməyə verdi -" Torpaqlarımı boşalt ... ") and "Pawnshop Malahat with the ex-minister will not share basement center (Rolls-Royce)”.

The articles talk about the lawsuit between Gurbanova and former Minister of Labor Fizuli Alekperov because of the non-residential area.

Gurbanova claims that she is not engaged in the pawnshop and accuses the journalist of protecting the interests of the ex-minister. She demands to convict the journalist under Art. 147 (libel) and Art. 148 (insult) of the Criminal Code.

In January, the trial was postponed indefinitely due to the appointment of an examination and to find out if there is an insult in the expression Pawnshop Malahat.

According to Mammadov, the examination noted that according to the dictionary meaning, the word "pawnshop" is not an insulting expression. However, if Gurbanova is unknown in society under the nickname Pawnshop Malahat, and she did not present herself like that, then Criminal.az deliberately offended her honor and dignity, and damaged her business reputation.

Mammadov does not agree with the expert opinion, noting that he did not insult or slander anyone.

Khalid Agaliyev, a media expert, believes that criminalizing journalists in the context of public discussions negatively affects the country's image and does not comply with legislative guarantees for freedom of expression.

“It is necessary to urgently establish a progressive judicial practice. Already in a number of decisions of the ECHR, the inadmissibility of bringing journalists to criminal liability for publications is expressed. The courts should reject such claims without recourse to an expert examination and there are enough legislative instruments and European case law for this,” said Agaliyev.

In his opinion, it is ridiculously disputed in the context of criminal law of expression about the type of activity that a person is engaged in.

The defense considers the lawsuit unsubstantiated, since there is no evidence of defamation in the materials. The heading indicates the scope of the entrepreneur, and this is recorded in the name of her enterprise. Finally, prosecuting a journalist for defamation is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and the decisions of the European Court of Justice.

Note that if the court convicts Mammadov, he will face imprisonment of up to two years and, in addition, 5.5 years in prison, which he is currently serving on probation.

He received this punishment on charges of anti-state appeals, abuse of authority and official forgery in connection with the publication on the criminal.az website of reports of the assassination of former head of Ganja Elmar Veliyev in 2018.

The sentence on Mammadov was condemned by a number of international journalistic organizations, as well as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Arlem Desir.  -06B-