On Friday, a group of independent journalists and video bloggers held a rally in front of parliament, protesting against the bill “On Media”.
Participants brought to the building a poster in the form of a tombstone, on which it was written: “Free press”.
Those who spoke at the rally called on the deputies not to adopt the bill in its current form.
“This is censorship, restriction of the activities of journalists and the opportunity to interfere in their work, violation of our constitutional rights,” blogger Nurlan Gahramanli said to the video.
The editor of the Arqument.az website Shamshad Agha, in turn, noted that the authorities secretly prepared this document for eight months, and then submitted it to parliament without discussion. This document contradicts the Constitution of the country and the European Convention on Human Rights, he said.
Journalist Aliya Yagublu called the points of the bill reactionary, which effectively prohibit journalists from conducting investigations. “The prohibitions set out in the document do not give us the right and opportunity to reveal the facts of violations and corruption,” she said.
In the conclusion of the journalist they began to chant: “Journalism is not a crime”, “The free press cannot be shut up.” The police took away the posters from the journalists, but did not disperse the protesters. There were no detainees.