Editors to inform Europe of pressure on opposition press

Several editors of Azerbaijan newspapers are likely to go to Strasbourg to inform the Council of Europe of the campaign of pressure on the press, the editor-in-chief of the Azadlyg newspaper, Ganimat Zakhidov, told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. The Azadlyg is filing an appeal with the Court of Appeal on August 16. The newspaper does not agree with the court decision in the case of Iran Geydarly. To remind, the court imposed a fine of 50 million manats on the Azadlyg (Mr Geydarly had initially demanded $1.2 million).

Besides, a suit filed by the head of Baku's executive power, Gadzhibala Abutalibov, against the Yeni Musavat newspaper will be considered on August 27. In Mr Zakhidov's opinion, the authorities have abandoned their tactics of not noticing publications in newspapers. "The suits were filed in order to take repressive actions against opposition newspapers with the help of the judicial machine," Mr Zakhidov emphasized.

He also said that another opposition newspaper, the Baky Khabar, was "overloaded" with suits as well. The total sum of the suits filed against the newspaper is 180 million manats. "It makes us inform the international community of our problems so that it will protect us from the authorities' pressure," Mr Zakhidov explained.