Azerbaijani Press Council chair, Aflatun Amashov will address Speaker of the parliament, Ogtay Asadov to debate a defamation bill at a parliament sitting. “International organizations have not once stated that there is a need to adopt this bill. We want the bill to be raised at the discussions at the next parliament session,” the Press Council chair told Trend News.

The defamation bill was worked up through the support of the OSCE Baku office in 2005. The bill was drawn by MPs, Ganira Pashayeva, Ayaz Guliyev, as well as journalists and lawyers. International organizations consider that the articles 147 (slander) and 148 (insult) providing for criminal liability should be withdrawn from the Penal Code.

“The adoption of the “Law on Defamation” is possible, but first of all journalists must be ready to it,” MP, Ayaz Guliyev told Trend News. He said the problem would not be fully solved even though the bill is adopted. “The bill should be broadly discussed on the backdrop of numerous cases of slander, lie, blackmail and false information in the Azerbaijani mass media,” the MP said.

Guliyev said journalists can accelerate the adoption of this bill. “They need to raise their skills in the first place. I believe the bill can be discussed only after journalists reform their views,” he said. He also said the time frames of the bill adoption will depend on the professionalism of journalists.

Over 3,300 media outlets are registered in Azerbaijan today. Only 600 of them are functioning currently. There are nearly 400 newspapers and magazines and 20 TV channels. There are about 50 electronic media outlets and 20 news agencies. The rest are internet resources.