In Azerbaijan, an attempt to tarnish or degrade the president’s honor on the Internet carries criminal liability.
According to information from the agency APA, the prosecutor general Zakir Qaralov sent a proposal to the National Assembly, connected with introducing additions to article 323.1 of the Penal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic (Tarnishing or degradation of the honor and dignity of the head of the Azerbaijani government – the President of the Azerbaijan Republic – in a public appearance, in a publicly displayed work or in the mass media).
According to the project, in this article the words “in the mass media” would be replaced by the words “in the mass media or in the case of public dissemination of Internet-based information resources”.
For such acts, the project calls for punishment in the form of a fine of 500 to 1000 manat, up to two years of community service or two years in prison.
There is also a proposal to add article 323.1-1 to the law. The article states: “If actions mentioned in article 323.1 are disseminated in Internet-based information resources using fake names, profiles or accounts, punishment will be applied in the form of a fine of 1000 to 1500 manat or in the form of imprisonment for up to three years”.
For commentary on this news, Meydan.TV turned to media expert and director of MRI (the Media Rights Institute) Rashid Hajiyev.
“First of all, this proposal can be regarded as an exceptionally hostile act and as ill intent on the part of state organs regarding freedom of speech, as opposed to statements about defamation of the president himself.
Second, this proposal is connected with the law “On protecting the honor and dignity of the president of Azerbaijan”. This law can be looked upon only as an anachronism.
Moreover, this amendment will be ineffective from the point of view of legislation. Who can this amendment be applied to if a user is anonymous? What was the need of this – we don’t know.”
According to recent research from Reporters Without Borders, the situation regarding freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Azerbaijan is rated as “extremely serious”. Azerbaijan is in 163
rd
place in the list of 180 countries, whereas its closest neighbors are in 64
th
(Georgia) and 74
th
(Armenia) place.
