"Radio Liberty" reports blocking its website in Azerbaijan

The access to one of the country's main independent sources of information – the “Radio Azadlyg” (the Azerbaijani service of the “Radio Liberty”, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") – is blocked, says the statement of the corporation "Free Europe/Radio Liberty", posted in the evening on April 13 on the corporation’s website.

"The blocking of the website started on March 27," the corporation states, noting that it suspects the “Delta Telecom” company of the blocking, which, according to the Freedom House, had been licensed by the Azerbaijani government and is one of two country’s Internet providers."

The statement also points out that other independent mass media are facing the same problem – the "Meydan.TV" and the newspaper "Azadlyg" (azadliq.info).

However, the “Delta Telecom” has rejected accusations of blocking the websites of the "Radio Azadlyg", "Meydan.TV" and "Azadlyg" newspaper.

"We are engaged only in technical activities and are not interested in who is on whose political side. Closing access to websites or committing technical attacks on them have nothing to do with the ‘Delta Telecom’," says the company's written response to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The closure of access to websites is a manifestation of political will and has to do with the content of the blocked resources, believe the experts interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot”.

"It may be that the ‘Delta Telecom’, as a main Internet provider, is not directly involved in blocking the websites; but in this case the company should provide evidence that the filters have not been installed by it. The stopped access is a manifestation of political will," Alesker Mamedli, a member of the “Civil Society Platform” (CSP) and an expert in the field of media law, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.