IMR states impairment of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan

Today, the Institute of Media Rights (IMR) has presented its 2009 report on the situation with the freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, which notes that the situation with the freedom of speech in the country "remains poor, and Azerbaijan is behind many countries by this indicator," as Leila Madatli, the IMR's spokesperson, said at the presentation of the report in the Baku Media Centre.

The report lists facts of psychological, physical and legal persecution of journalists. This year, according to the document, 49 times journalists were exposed to physical and psychological pressure. 41 journalists were beaten for their professional work. The majority of them are the media people who criticized the authorities.

"The statistics in this area is depressing, as within the last five years 350 cases of violence against journalists were registered, of them only three were investigated," said Ms Madatli.

In 2009, 39 claims were lodged against the workers of mass media asking to collect from them about 2,900,000 manats (3.6 million US dollars) as moral compensation. However, unlike previous years, the courts adjudged rather low rates of monetary sanctions - in total in the sum of 20,000 manats (about 24,000 US dollars).

In some cases judges resorted to publishing refutations only. Besides, 32 claims were submitted demanding imprisonment under Articles 147 and 148 ("slander" and "insult"). On these charges, 10 journalists received criminal punishments; however, only two of them were sentenced to imprisonment for the term of 3 months.