Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 March / Trend corr I. Alizade/ Azerbaijan's governing New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) has opposed the notion that the authorities are responsible for the attempt on the life of an employee of the opposition Azadlig newspaper.
"The stabbing of a journalist is another provocation against Azerbaijan and it was intended to create a myth regarding the problems of freedom of speech and press in the country," MP Ali Ahmadov, the deputy chairman and the executive secretary of the NAP, said to journalists on 14 March.
On 13 March, at 8.00pm Agil Khalil, a journalist of the Azadlig newspaper, was stabbed in the chest by unknown assailants. He was immediately taken to the Clinical Medical Centre where he was operated on. A criminal case has been filed.
According to Ahmadov, the attempt on the journalist's life is part of a perfidious plan. Both the authorities and the journalists of Azerbaijan should cooperate in the investigation of the crime. "We will see who has initiated these plans," he said.