Azerbaijani newspaper's bank accounts frozen, two journalists sentenced to forced labour
By Leah McBride Mensching, Monday 28 January 2008 at 23:29 :: Press Freedom & Laws :: #1163 :: rss
The Baki-Kheber's bank accounts, which hold revenues from newspaper sales in Gaya, Gasid and Azermetbuatyayim, were arrested beginning Sunday, the Azeri Press Agency reported Monday.
The freezing of the accounts have been imposed on revenues from the sales of the Baki-Kheber because the newspaper is in debt AZN 2179.4 (€1,754.52, US$2,588.79), according to a letter from Yasamal district court Zaur Abdullayev, which was sent to Gaya, Gasid and Azermetbuatyayim.
The three firms have been told to transfer sales revenues to Yasamal district court officers' department's bank account, according to APA.
In May 2005, the Azerbaijani Appeals Court took AZN 2179.4 from the newspaper's bank account and gave the money to a resident of the Ujar region, Shahlar Alakbarov. The court also ordered the newspaper to suspend its publication, which was restored in September 2007. No reason for the fine and suspension was given.
Also Monday, Reporters Without Borders reported two newspaper journalists in Azerbaijan were sentenced to forced labour after a Baku court found them guilty of libelling a senior official.
Avaz Zeynalli, editor of independent weekly Khural, and Vugar Gurdanli, a journalist at the paper, were both sentenced to forced labour in two separate cases stemming from articles published in 2007 about government corruption.
“Press offences must be quickly decriminalised in Azerbaijan,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. “The list of prosecutions of news media seems endless.
“The disproportionate sentences imposed on journalists has a deplorable effect on press freedom and encourages self-censorship. But the government turns a deaf ear and continues to claim that journalists who write about corruption are criminals.”
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