Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 23 / Trend T.Hajiyev /
The adoption of "Law on defamation" in Azerbaijan is important for us, Azerbaijani Press Council chairman Aflatun Amashov said during a meeting with the director of the International Press Institute (IPI) Alison Bethel McKenzie, who is on visit in Baku.
"We have been working with the OSCE on this issue since March last year. In a joint project had been amended the Rules of Professional Ethics of Azerbaijani journalists," he said. "The conference held with the participation of international experts and the media community, presented a new variant of the document, which was approved. Here, the main objective was to increase journalists' responsibility in the area of defamation, which received special attention in the new, improved version of the rules. And now we are working directly on the draft law on defamation, which is nearing completion. I hope that the issue will be resolved shortly."
A draft law on defamation was prepared in 2005 with the support of the OSCE Baku Office. The working group that prepared the draft included MPs Ganira Pashayeva and Azay Guliyev, media representatives and lawyers.
According to international organizations, articles in the Azerbaijani Criminal Code that envisage criminal responsibility for libel and insult should be excluded from the legislation.
Six media organizations asked parliament to adopt a law on defamation in May 2009 - the Association of Azerbaijani Journalists, the Najaf Najafov Foundation, the Center for Journalism and Development, the Yeni Nesil Association of Journalists, and the Azerbaijani Media Center and Democratic Journalists League. Later about 400 media representatives joined the appeal.
The draft law has been studied by the OSCE.
Amashov said Azerbaijan is also carried out comprehensive work on the state care to media.
