On 12 February, in the Yasamal District Court, under the chairmanship of Judge Matanat Hajiyeva, a hearing was held on Yeni Musavat newspaper’s lawsuit against the State Customs Committee regarding its failure to answer the information inquiry. The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) was told this by the newspaper’s lawyer Vagif Huseynov.
V.Huseyn said that they demanded that the State Custom Committee pay 10 000 AZN for failure to respond to the information inquiry and filed a motion to involve SCC Chairman Aydin Aliyev in the administrative responsibility.
SCC defense lawyer S.Mukhtarov stated that both the lawsuit and the motion are unfounded and asked the court to reject them.
Judge M.Hajiyeva scheduled the next hearing on this case for 22 February at 3:00 p.m.
The lawsuit stems from the failure to respond to the information inquiry that Yeni Musavat newspaper had addressed to the State Customs Committee. In the inquiry information was asked regarding the sections of customs incomes (VAT, customs taxes) for imports to Azerbaijan, indicators on the goods groups (including cars) and the most important goods, and the total volume of imported goods which are freed from the customs incomes and goods on separate years between 2004-2008.