Azernews.Az

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg will prepare a final report at the end of spring based on his findings during a visit to Azerbaijan.
Hammarberg told a press conference in Baku Friday that the condition of the country’s media outlets was one of the three main topics discussed during his meetings. Also discussed with Azerbaijani officials were the judiciary system and the conditions provided for non-governmental organizations. The commissioner visited several pre-trial detention cells and penitentiary institutions as well as met with jailed bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade.
"We believe that a journalist cannot be arrested for his writings. Journalists should not face criminal charges for their articles," Hammarberg said.
He noted that he would be closely following the case of imprisoned newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev and the bloggers. Hammarberg also voiced concern over what he called the unravelled murder in March 2005 of controversial journalist Elmar Huseynov.
The CE commissioner said he had raised the issue of releasing the jailed journalists during discussions with Azerbaijani officials.
"I have talked about this with ministers. They replied that investigation and court trials on these cases are underway and they could not interfere with these procedures."
Hammarberg also expressed concern over recent legislative amendments banning photographing or video recordings without one’s permission. "I am concerned that these provisions could be used to restrict journalists’ activity," he claimed.
The commissioner said the media’s problems should be discussed with the authorities by means of constructive dialog.
"Adopting the Law on Defamation that is currently being put on discussion in parliament would be a very positive step in terms of protecting journalists’ rights," he added.*