11:58, 21 June 2020

Azerbaijani journalist Miralamli sentenced to year of freedom restriction

A court in Baku has sentenced an oppositional journalist, Tezekhan Miralamli to one year of freedom restriction. The journalist treats the judgement as biased and restricting his professional activities for political reasons.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 14, a criminal case of hooliganism was opened against Tezekhan Miralamli, a correspondent of the "Azadlyg" newspaper and a member of the oppositional Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). Miralamli said that the case was initiated following a complaint lodged by Ata Abdullaev, a video blogger.

The incident, after which Abdullaev lodged his complaint against Miralamli, happened on February 26, 2020. Miralamli said that on that day, PFPA activists visited the memorial to the victims of the Khojaly tragedy. "Ata Abdullaev used obscene language at our party. I approached him and warned him to stop it. But he filed a complaint with the police that I allegedly hit him," Miralamli has asserted.

Khalid Agaliev, a lawyer at the Institute of Media Rights, believes that the court judgement restricts the journalist's rights.

"The incident occurred in a public place. There are no video proofs of the physical pressure exerted by Miralamli. There was just a verbal skirmish. There are dozens of such incidents in Baku every day; and often no one is even fined for this," Mr Agaliev has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 20, 2020 at 07:47 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent