Azerbaijani journalist punished for criticizing country’s army

In Azerbaijan, journalist Sakhavet Mamed was fined 500 manats for posting an article in an online newspaper about bribes in the country’s army.

Sakhavet Mamed said that on December 18, he was summoned to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan. “I was summoned for an article posted on the Yeni çağ (New Age) website [with the information about bribes in the army under the previous leaders]. I had to write an explanatory letter. I replied that what I had written in the article was the result of an investigation I had been carrying out for a long time. Nevertheless, I was taken from there to the Khatai District Court,” Sakhavet Mamed told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to the journalist, the court imposed a fine on him in the amount of 500 manats (about 300 US dollars), imputing an offense under Article 388-1.1.1 (posting on an online resource the information banned for dissemination, as well as non-prevention of posting such information) of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Azerbaijan.

The journalist noted that the Yeni çağ website deleted the above-mentioned article. At the same time, Sakhavet Mamed said that he would file an appeal against the court’s decision.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 21, 2021 at 12:32 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.