Alesker Mamedli: in seven years two journalists killed and over hundred more injured in Azerbaijan

The problem of journalists' safety in Azerbaijan is still valid, and it requires effective measures to protect the journalists. This was emphasized by participants of the "round table" entitled "Development and improvement of system for journalists' safety in Azerbaijan" held on March 2 in Baku.

"Violence against journalists has already become commonplace," says Alesker Mamedli, the expert in media law of the international organization "IREX".

According to his story, during seven years, in Azerbaijan, two journalists were murdered and more than hundred journalists got injuries of different severity. The majority of those incidents had not been solved, the expert has added.

"This suggests that the authorities connive at violence. In general, for the entire country, rate of the detection of crimes of violent nature reaches about 95 percent, while rate of detection of crimes against journalists only 2 percent," Alesker Mamedli has stressed.

According to his story, recent years have formed such a thing as an administrative violence, when media and journalists are being prosecuted for defamation. "During the same seven years, courts pronounced 300 decisions in civil and criminal cases related to defamation," said the representative of the "IREX".

"The problem of journalists' safety in Azerbaijan remains acute, and that fact was proven by the events in the town of Guba, where several journalists were injured in clashes between police and local residents," stated Khadija Ismailova, the observer of the Azerbaijani Office of the "Radio Freedom", during the discussion.