Miklos Haraszti: "Media Freedom deteriorates in Azerbaijan"

"Four journalists are in jail or received suspended sentences in Azerbaijan for defamation," he said.

He also stated that he had a meeting with Azerbaijani president in April, 2005 and he asked the president not to let politicians bring a law suit against the journalists but his request was not fulfilled.

In his meeting with the president and the foreign minister Haratszi raised the problem of conviction of journalist Mirza Sakit.

He said that the sentence should be based on facts and the second stage of the court should be transparent. Haratszi stressed that OSCE observes Elmar Huseyn's murder fact and still did not get any convincing information. He stated that the murder of Anna Politkovskaya on October 7 is similar to Elmar Huseynov's murder.

Haratszi said that the real journalism is the free journalism. The representative stressed that Azerbaijan should obey the obligations. He also mentioned that if the government wants to enter the democratic state's club it should make legal reforms. APA