Azerbaijani Parliament criminalizes defamation and insults on Internet

On May 14, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan adopted the amendments to the Criminal Code that criminalize defamation and insults on the Internet. By severity of punishment, defamation and insults on the Internet are equal to those for the same acts in the real world. Representatives of civil society criticize the adopted amendments, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Let us remind you that the draft amendments were presented to the Parliament as a legislative initiative of the General Prosecutor and they were aimed to protect the honour and dignity of citizens on the Internet.

The Parliament has agreed to the proposed amendments and adopted the amendments to Article 147 (defamation) and 148 (insult) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. They give the new definition of "defamation" and "insult".

Under the adopted law, defamation is defined as follows: "dissemination of knowingly false information discrediting honour and dignity of another person or damaging his or her reputation made in a public statement, publicly performed work or media, or mass demonstration on the information resources on the Internet."

Meanwhile, the penalties under the Article remain the same a fine of 100-500 manats (127-637 US dollars), or public works of up to 240 hours, or correctional labour of up to one year, or 6 months of imprisonment. Defamation of a grave crime is punishable by up to 3 years of imprisonment.

According to the amendment to Article 148, insult is treated as "humiliation of honour and dignity of another person in an indecent manner, not only in a public statement, publicly performed work or media, or mass demonstration on the information resources on the Internet."

The penalties under the Articles also remain the same a fine of 300-1000 manats (382-1275 US dollars), or public works of up to 240 hours, or correctional labour of up to one year, or up to six months of imprisonment.

It should be noted that activists of the civil society of Azerbaijan and international organizations speak out against the above amendments.

On May 3, on the World Press Freedom Day, Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, expressed her concern over the development of the above amendments to the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

"The National Action Plan on Human Rights signed by President Ilham Aliev suggested steps to decriminalize defamation. However, the amendments proposed by the General Prosecutor have the opposite direction," Dunja Mijatovic has emphasized.