Today, 1 February, during the first meeting of the spring session of Milli Mejlis (Parliament), deputy Penah Huseyn objected to Academic Jalal Aliyev’s lawsuit against Yeni Musavat newspaper’s first deputy editor-in-chief Azer Aykhan, and stated that it is necessary to adopt the law “On Defamation” and to release imprisoned journalists, according to “Mediaforum.az.”
In his speech Deputy Igbal Agazade touched upon the issue of imprisoned editors-in-chief Ganimat Zahid and Eynulla Fatullayev. He said that motives in their cases do not create grounds to arrest these two editors-in-chief. I.Agazade noted that recently he put forth some proposals during the discussions related to the Law on Penitentiary Service in Milli Mejlis. “I stated that the responsibility should be upon the prison employees when narcotic substances are found in prisons,” said Agazade. “However, in the law this responsibility is imposed on citizen-prisoners. That is why they are able to organize these kinds of spurious cases.”
Milli Majlis Chairman Ogtay Asadov and vice-speaker Ziyafat Asgerov expressed their opinions regarding these speeches. O.Asadov said that the “Law on Defamation” has not been adopted in most of countries that are members of the Council of Europe.
Z.Asgerov said that it is not right to divide people into groups. “When people from other professions are sued in court, no one responds to it. But when journalists are sued, agitation is created. Even deputies are insulted,” said Z.Asgerov.
Milli Majlis Chairman Ogtay Asadov and vice-speaker Ziyafat Asgerov expressed their opinions regarding these speeches. O.Asadov said that the “Law on Defamation” has not been adopted in most of countries that are members of the Council of Europe.
Z.Asgerov said that it is not right to divide people into groups. “When people from other professions are sued in court, no one responds to it. But when journalists are sued, agitation is created. Even deputies are insulted,” said Z.Asgerov.