ANOTHER COURT RULING ON LAWSUIT AGAINST AVAZ ZEYNALLI

On January 23, 2012, Narimanov District Court, under chairmanship of the judge Sevinj Guliyeva, held a court proceeding on the lawsuit filed against Khural newspaper by Baltika-Baki LLC General Director Adam Tlekhuray.

Zeynalli’s lawyer Elchin Sadigov told IRFS that the court decided to partially grant the lawsuit, noting that he had been unaware of the proceeding until February 10, when he was provided with the decision.   The lawyer noted that the decision requires Avaz Zeynalli to pay a fine of 50 000 AZN and publish a retraction and apology. Sadigov called the fact that he had not been notified about the court proceeding “illegal” and said that he will file an appeal.

The plaintiff, Adam Tlekhuray, claims that his honor and dignity was humiliated and his business image was damaged by articles published in Khural newspaper. He demanded that the newspaper publish a retraction and pay a 150,000 AZN fine.

BACKGROUND

On October 28th, Zeynalli was detained by officers from the Anti-Corruption Department and sentenced to three months of pre-trial detention based on a complaint filed with the Anti-Corruption Department by ruling YAP MP Gular Ahmadova.  A criminal case was launched against him under Articles 311.3.3 (taking a large bribe) and 311.3.4 (taking a bribe in conjunction with threats) of the Criminal Code. On January 17th, Nasimi District Court decided to extend Avaz Zeynalli’s pre-trial detention for three more months.