The Chairman of the Press Council of Azerbaijan, Aflatun Amashov, informed Trendthat the investigations of employees of the newspapers, who are accused of misusing the name of the Press Council and taking bribes, will be completed within 15 days.
Amashov appealed to the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan to investigate the facts of taking bribes from various organizations by misusing the name of the Press Council. One criminal case has already been filed. Editor-in-Chief of the Society and Law newspaper, Gabil Shaldiyev and newspaper reporter, Famil Hasanov, are accused of taking bribes in amount of AZN 300 from the municipality of Gobu and preparing artificial documents for it. According to item 178 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, the accused may be sentenced to between three and seven years in prison. In addition, they may be fined. At present, the accused are not in custody. The court will make a decision after completion of the investigation.
The Interior Ministry's Department of Fight against Organized Crime is continuing the investigation of the actions of the accused.
In addition, Amashov stated that the Press Council is continuing investigations in relation to 30 newspapers of which racket activities have been discovered as a result of the monitoring of Head Education Department of Baku. According to him, the investigations of the Press Council will be completed next week and relevant measures will be taken.