I consider the situation with press in Azerbaijan to be normal, Trend reports quoting Ramiz Mehtiyev, Chief of Presidents Administration, commenting yesterdays speech of Miklos Haraszti, OSCE Media Freedom Representative.
Mehtiyev said Azeri press should accept the situation in the Country.
В"Some media representatives in the country should not use the press for their personal needs. Their duties are clearly defined in the law and the law governs their entire activityВ", said Azeri official.
OSCE Media Freedom Representative Miklos Haraszti said in his letter to President Ilham Aliyev the reform could start with an immediate legal moratorium on criminal suits against journalists, and be completed by the transfer of the libel, defamation, and verbal insult provisions from the Criminal Code to the civil law domain. Simultaneously, civil law should be revised so that it can handle defamation offences in a measured way. This should be made in compliance with the principles of the European Court of Human Rights. In particular, rational ceilings have to be established for damage payments; and the civil libel provisions should acknowledge that public figures have to endure harsher criticism than ordinary citizens.