‘At least five journalists, site manager, blogger arrested’
May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. In recent years, the word Azerbaijan and ranks low in various press freedom rankings. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released the World Press Freedom Index on May 3. Azerbaijan to freedom of the press according to It is ranked 154th out of 180 countries. Freedom of the press in the country was considered “very difficult.” Azerbaijan, which ranked 167th last year, has moved up 13 places in the rankings.
From the neighbors of Azerbaijan and Armenia ranks 51st among the former USSR republics, 12 places higher than last year (63). Georgia, which was 60th in 2021, dropped 29 places to 89th.
Judge New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) member, “Two coast”Editor-in-chief of the newspaper Vusnow Rahimzade’s “Turan”To say according tois commendable that, modern independent Azerbaijan word and occupies one of the leading positions in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the level of development of press freedom: “At the same time, today the name of Azerbaijan is on the Internet. free is among the countries where. Eighty-five percent of the country’s population is an Internet user. Of course that, Our press has come a long and difficult way to have these realities. The conditions created for the media in Azerbaijan, perhaps, are not even found in the developed countries of the world.
Drawing attention to the expectations of the Azerbaijani state and society from the press, the editor-in-chief said: “These expectations are that, national information To protect security, to always put the interests of the state and the people first, to observe professional ethics, and to base the activity of the media on the basic principles of journalism, such as objectivity and impartiality. Among the expectations national The promotion of the spirit and patriotism also plays a key role. The new law reflects the mechanisms aimed at implementing these expectations in a more advanced form.
Also from the Media Development Agency “Turan” that, Rules of the media register provided for in the new law “On Media” adopted at the end of last year, journalist’s card and A preliminary draft of the media registry certificate form has already been prepared: “Discussions are being held with the relevant agencies in a working manner. We think that, The media register will be formed and implemented within the set period.
Media expert Khalid Agaliyev told RFE / RL that, in previous years free of the media snow“The media do not have the financial resources to sustain it,” he said. There are no legal mechanisms to protect it and or it doesn’t work. “
He noted that, The opinions of many media experts and lawyers were not taken into account in the process of adopting the new law. the law signed and entered into force”.
According to Kh. Agaliyev, it is noticeable now that, The institution of self-regulation of the media, which is already a serious problem, is completely dismantled, and this is rejected: “All media-related regulations are transferred to the executive bodies created, formed and appointed by the state. These bodies have started to create and apply everything from ethical issues to the mechanisms that directly affect the editorial policy.
Journalist for the last year and Noting that there has been no significant change in the number of incidents involving media workers, the expert said: “2020The number of such incidents was 194 in 2021, and 203 in 2021. This includes everything from interference in the professional activities of journalists to cyberattacks. In 2021, law enforcement agencies told journalists snowThey did not prosecute any of the perpetrators. “
To the lawyer’s calculation according to, at least five journalists, a webmaster and a blogger are currently in jail. These are the head of xeberman.com Polad Aslanov, the editor of azel.tv Afgan Sadigov, the head of yukselis.info Elchin Mammad, the editor of nia.az Bahruz Aliyev and The blogger is Aslan Gurbanov. They are spying on foreign special services, making open calls against the state and threatening them way at the request of and found guilty of other crimes. However, they themselves did not accept the accusations in court to a large extent. Officials say that, No journalist in Azerbaijan is purely a professional according to was not arrested.
December 1993 20in UN May 3 has been declared World Press Freedom Day by the decision of the General Assembly.