Паст инфо

The ‘7^th International Conference on web management’ took place in the capital of Azerbaijan on November 6-9 with the participation of 1000 participants from 100 countries. The main topics of discussion were related to the development of the sphere, security and web accessibility issues.

One of them was connected with the issues of freedom of speech and innovation, as well as preservation of civil journalism in the modern world.

So we have a statement made by an international organization protecting the freedom of media ‘Journalists beyond borders’ that was made almost simultaneously with the forum. ‘The most part of opposition newspapers were closed down in Azerbaijan. The Radio-TV broadcasting is controlled by the authorities’.

The struggle of opposition newspapers against the authorities has a long history. The Chief Editor of the ‘Azadlig’ newspaper Ganimad Zakhidov notes when talking about the state controlled by the Aliyev regime, that ‘Azerbaijan is known as an authoritarian state that violates basic democratic freedoms’. Recently he added that ‘If the situation does not change, we will not resist for long’.

This opposition newspaper appeared in a difficult financial situation as a result of numerous fines imposed by the court’s procedure. On November 5 the accounts were completely frozen.

Even though ‘Journalists beyond borders’ international organization criticized the decision of the judicial power of Azerbaijan, however, it could make no changes in the situation.

Around 40 journalists are imprisoned in Azerbaijan today for different or no reasons.

There are many cases when journalists who defend the freedom of speech are lynched for showing consistency in their speech and questions. The indifference of state authorities towards the trouble that journalists came across heralds with ‘all-saying silence’.

One of the typical examples is the case of beating the reporter of the newspaper ‘Zerkalo’ and the Head of the ‘Electronic Journalism’ NGO Idrak Abbasov up to the level of disability, the medical treatment of which was covered once again by the ‘Journalists beyond borders’ international organization. As for those who committed the crime, they became inaccessible.

It looks like the Azerbaijani authorities realize the fight against freedom of speech and media in an organized way and with specially developed methodology.

In this regard let us mention numerous obstacles created on the way of realization of the publications of the civil organizations or political parties. For instance, the authorities of Baku decided that the newspaper kiosks in their city should transform into trade institutions with wide profile. Half of them were transformed into large pavilions selling also food and industrial products. As a result the low index of newspaper sells decreased even more resulting in closing down of a number of news agencies that could survive by means of selling their newspaper or worsening their material situation.

By the way it is stated in the announcement of the ‘Journalists beyond borders’ that the Government of Azerbaijan must ‘guarantee justice for the case of journalists and media organizations’. It also expressed hope that the ‘7^th Conference on web management’ will have its say regarding that issue.

Samvel Martirosyan