Baku. Mubariz Aslanov – APA. “The recent opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe has unfortunately delayed the adoption of the Law on Defamation, which adoption has already become a reality in Azerbaijan”, Chairman of the law policy and state building committee of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ali Huseynli told APA.
According to Huseynli, with this opinion, the Venice Commission seriously undermined the dialogue that started successfully: “They mainly want us to decriminalize articles # 147 and 148 of the Criminal Code while drafting of the law. Referring to the French model, we offer to adopt the law without decriminalization of these articles, that’s to keep these articles in force. Even, the sanction in French model is more than in ours: their 5-year imprisonment is our 3-year imprisonment. However, they did not agree with us saying they are unaware of the French model, which seems unbelievable. Our position is always clear that those articles are deterrent, not applicable. The experience of recent years proves that no journalists have been arrested for professional activity in Azerbaijan”.
A. Huseynli made public main purpose of the Venice Commission’s remarks: “They tell us that though we say those articles are applicable, there is not a legal guarantee for it. However, we say that there is a legal guarantee for it. This is a judicial system that has been formed in recent years, these articles have not been applied in the activity of journalists. Unfortunately, the Venice Commission did not agree with us. Adoption of the Law on Defamation without decriminalization of those articles is very important for the society in terms of regulation of official-journalist relations. Unfortunately, their position has delayed this process”.
Huseynli also noted that the Azerbaijani side will continue its efforts towards adoption of this law.
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