Azerbaijan, Baku, July 17 / Trend , A.Husyenbala/
The Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee is against discussing a bill on defamation in Parliament.
"I consider it necessary to clarify our society's position on this issue before submitting it to Parliament for discussion," the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, Rabiyat Aslanova, told Trend on July 17.
The draft law on defamation was prepared with the support of the OSCE Baku Office in 2005. The preparation of the bill was attended by MPs Ganira Pashayeva and Azay Guliyev, journalist organizations and lawyers.
International organizations believe that Article 147 (defamation) and 148 (insult), which proposes criminal responsibility, should be removed from the country's Criminal Code.
"First, we should find out whether society needs this law. Society's position on this issue is still unknown and I am against submitting this bill for discussion," the Chairperson of the Committee said.
She said that the bill should meet every citizen's interests. "What do people think of it, and do they agree that those who dishonor them and abuse their dignity should not have to be punished? Therefore, we see every person's position on this as extremely important," Aslanova said.
"We should not approve a law in Parliament and then force people to adopt it," she added.
More than 3,300 media outlets have been registered in Azerbaijan. Currently only 600 of them function. Nearly 400 newspapers and magazines are published and more than 20 television channels are aired. In Azerbaijan there are about 50 electronic media outlets, 20 news agencies, and the rest are Internet resources.
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