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Aflatun Amashov: â€œComing forward with defamation initiatives, the Azerbaijani Press Council relied on country presidentâ€™s willâ€

03 October 2011 10:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Azer Mustafayev â€“ APA. â€œComing forward with defamation initiatives, the Azerbaijani Press Council relied on country presidentâ€™s will. The Council had a project on this issues realized jointly with OSCE Baku Officeâ€.

At the first meeting of the autumn session of the Parliament, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov said that the draft law on defamation has not been submitted to the Parliament and considered not to hurry in the adoption of such law. Speaker based his opinion that this issue must pass through nation-wide discussion.

Amashov said that the organization led by him has held many discussions both within joint project with OSCE Baku Office, and general working activity: â€œWe held an international conference in Baku in May this year on topic with the participation of international experts. The participants from various countries highly assessed the draft law developed under the auspices of OSCE Baku Office. Of course, it is wrong to consider the Azerbaijani media matures for defamation atmosphere. But the principal consideration of the issue consists that journalists mustnâ€™t be sentenced for his writing. As Mr. President said, this sphere has a type of informal moratorium. I donâ€™t see any base for worry. But nobody should think that the existence of defamation atmosphere generally frees from responsibility, conversely, the draft law developed by us determines the concrete real types of that responsibilityâ€.

Amashov also touched the issue on defamations from the point of view of the countryâ€™s international image: â€œIf course, there is not univocal attitude to the issue. But the existence of the law is inevitable as a process. If the law is adopted, it will positively affect Azerbaijanâ€™s international imageâ€.