Presidential administration: Adoption of Defamation Law in Azerbaijan to provide for ensuring freedom of speech fully

The adoption of the "Law on defamation", that is being discussed in Azerbaijan, will fully ensure freedom of speech and freedom of thought in Azerbaijan, the head of the socio-political department of the administration of Azerbaijan's President Ali Hasanov said in Astrakhan, Russia.

He said that the draft law has been prepared by the Azerbaijani Press Council jointly with the OSCE.

Baku held a conference on "Decriminalization of defamation by means of legislative reforms" on May 1. The event was organized by the OSCE Baku office and the Azerbaijani Press Council.

"Furthermore, I can say that there is a decision to adopt this law at the state level," he said. "A moratorium on the arrest of journalists for their professional activity has been in force for three years."

According to Hasanov, in a meeting with representatives of the Press Council board, President Aliyev said the Azerbaijani leadership is ready to adopt the law to fully ensure the freedom of speech and freedom of thought in the country.

"Frankly speaking, President Aliyev puts a condition for the adoption of the law not to lead to riots in the field of journalism," he said. "So, journalists must improve their professional level and responsibility to the people of the republic. Thus, the OSCE Baku office head welcomed the decision of the Press Council to revise the "Journalists' Code of Ethics" to more clearly define the features of journalists' ethics."

For now it is not dealt with developing stringent measures against the "racketeering" journalism, he said. "I think that first it is necessary to adopt the "Law on defamation", basing on a model of other countries' legislative acts and then develop the protective measures," he said.


/Trend/