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Miklos Harasti calls on the Government to release the imprisoned journalists

09 April 2008 16:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Tamara Grigoryeva-APA. I can call the situation with media in Azerbaijan serious, sad and disturbing, Miklos Harasti, representative of OSCE on Freedom of the Media told at the press conference in Baku evaluating his visit to the country. Harasti called Azerbaijani media to respect the ethical code and to stop these shameful actions: â€œDuring my visit to Azerbaijan I saw a very shameful reportageâ€¦ These Medias not only used facts that they didnâ€™t check, but also broke all the ethics normsâ€. OSCE representative also mentioned that he had met Agilâ€™s mother and told her that a government representative came to their house and asked to follow one of the three versions. Harasti also mentioned that he did not think reporterâ€™s issue was politicized, but called on the government to investigate it and find those, who were guilty as soon as possible.
He also mentioned that in Azerbaijan he saw a trend that critical journalists, those who write about corruption, are taken to prison and accused in terrorism, drug crimes or hooliganism. He asked the Government to fight against that. OSCE representative is also very troubled that there are still three imprisoned journalists in Azerbaijan and he called on President Ilham Aliyev to release them. Harasti says he is very sad the murders of â€œMonitorâ€ magazine Elmar Huseynov have not been arrested yet and added that he hoped the destiny of newspaper â€œAzadligâ€ would not be as sad as the one of â€œRealny Azerbaijanâ€.