A lawsuit was filed in the Yasamal District Court that calls for the arrest of “Azadlig” newspaper correspondent Agil Khalil.
The lawsuit was filed by “Gundalik Baki” Newspaper’s staff. “Gundalik Baki” Chief Editor Adil Huseynli told this to the Institute for Reporter’s Freedom and Safety.
“Yesterday we appealed to the Yasamal District Court for the defense of our honor and dignity. We requested the arrest of Agil Khalil in our lawsuit. Our lawsuit stems from calls that Agil Khalil made to my personal phone and to phone of assistant editor-in-chief Vazeh Bahramoglu. He insulted us and our newspaper. We think Agil Khalil’s swearing and use of bad language against us is provocation. He wanted to provoke us with these actions. What I can tell about the latest incidents happening to Agil Khalil is that we have one reason to write about him: to bring the truth to light. We are neither an opposition or government newspaper. Our sole purpose here is to introduce the person standing behind all these actions to public,” said Huseynli.
IRFS spoke to Khalil’s lawyer Elchin Sadigov about this lawsuit. Sadigov said that the lawsuit against his client is unfounded. “According to a 14 May 1994 decision of the Supreme Court Plenum, if insult does not occur in the press and was not disseminated, than the person who stated the insult cannot be prosecuted.”
*IRFS notes that according to Article 148 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, insult is defined as follows: insult means degrading a person’s honor and dignity in an indecent form in public speeches, in a written work of mass production or via the mass media.