Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 January / Trend corr. К.Zarbaliyeva / A journalist of the Azerbaijani Canub TV channel, which began broadcasting in the south region recently, was beaten up on 16 January.
According to the information by Canub TV, the residents of Demirchi and Badalan villages appealed to Canub regarding serious problems with the electricity supply. A team from Canub TV channel went to the Masalli region to investigate the case. However, the chief of the Electric distribution network did not allow the journalists to film and offended the journalist.
The Azerbaijani Right of Media Institute reported to Trend that Allahverdi Ismaylov, the chief of the Electric Distribution Network of the Masalli region, struck the channel official with a table whilst he was filming at the electric distribution network and causing injury to the journalist.
The Right of Media Institute considers that the latest actionstowards the journalist of Canub TV channel was a violation of the Azerbaijani Constitution and a range of rules of the country, including the bill on Information and other bills of press. Beating up a journalist is a crime envisaged in Article 309.2 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
The Institute condemns such illegal and actions against the journalists of the recently-opened Canub channel and valued the action as pressure on freedom of speech and expression in the country.