PRELIMINARY HEARING HELD ON HUMAN RIGHT DEFENDER’S LAWSUIT AGAINST POST OFFICE

Today, January 5th, Yasamal District Court held a preliminary hearing on Institute for Rreporters’ Freedom and Safety employee Rasul Jafarov’s lawsuit against "Azerpochtexpress" Communications Office. Fuad Talishinsky chaired the hearing.

The plaintiff’s representative Aghazadeh filed a motion requiring the defendant side to present copies of the certified registration documents of the "Azerpochtexpress" Communications Office to the plaintiff. The plaintiff side also requested the court to ensure the participation of Azerbaijani Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies and "Azerpocht" state enterprise in the hearing as interested persons, as well as, to allow the journalists to take photos and videos in the court process.

Judge Fuad Talishinski fulfilled the first part of the motion implying the submission of registration documents to the plaintiff side, but decided to ensure participation of only the "Azerpocht" state enterprise. The Judge did not allow the journalists to take photos and videos in the hearing.

Although IRFS correspondents arrived at the hearing in time, the judge did not allow them to take photos and videos in the process, citing their being late.
BACKGROUND
Rasul Jafarov, the 2010 Fellow of the International Bridge of Justice, failed to visit Singapore for participating in the event of this organization, as the postal service lost all the documents Jafarov sent to receive visa. Since Singapore does not have an embassy in Azerbaijan, Jafarov needed to   submit his documents the Singapore's embassy in Geneva. However, the Azerpochtexpress Communications Office lost the documents.