Yesterday (8 September), in the Yasamal District Court, under the chairmanship of judge Ragib Gurbanov, a court hearing took place on the lawsuit of folklore expert Islam Sadig against “Azadlig” Newspaper.
The plaintiff appealed to the court because he was unhappy about views expressed about him in the article “He can drown Koroglu,” which was published in the 4-9 October 2007 edition of “Azadlig” Newspaper. Gurbanov demanded that the newspaper pay 20,000 AZN in compensation for damages.
During a previous hearing, the court sent the phrase “it is Armenian finger”, about which Sadig was unhappy, for linguistic expertise. The results of the expertise came out yesterday. It is noted in the conclusion that the phrase is ironic and was not damaging to his honor and dignity.
The next hearing is now scheduled to take place on 12 September at 10:20 a.m. During that hearing, it is anticipated that the verdict will be announced.
According to lawyer Elchin Sadigov, this lawsuit is totally unfounded. “He needs to present evidence to court about how he claims the article is damaging to him. However, Islam Sadig doesn’t ask the newspaper to publish a refutation, he demands that the newspaper pay him 20,000 AZN in compensation without showing any evidence,” Sadigov said.