There has been an unofficial ban placed on the publication of ASI newspaper, which is being published by the employees of the now defunct Khural newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is in prison, reported employees.
“Today the owner of E.Q publishing house, Aki, called the director of our newspaper -Nizami Hasanov – saying that they will not print ASI. The owner did not explain why, even though we have an official contract, which he has violated. We believe that the ban on the publication of ASI is part of the campaign against Khural newspaper employees,” said employees of the newspaper.
The employees of Khural newspaper launched ASI (Free Speech Revolutionaries) just two days ago.
Khural newspaper was published weekly from October 2002, and daily from September 20th 2011. Bailiffs confiscated the newspaper’s property on October 19th, due to its failure to pay 19,000 AZN in court-issued fines to the head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, the Mass Media State Support Fund Executive Director Vugar Safarli, and others. The newspaper was forced to close on October 21 when all local printing houses refused to print the newspaper