Participants of protest action in Baku urge to revise draft law “On Media”

At a protest action in Baku, activists say the provisions that infringe on the rights of journalists to receive and publish information should be excluded from the draft law “On Media”.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on December 14, the parliament of Azerbaijan adopted the draft law ‘On Media" in the first reading. The draft law imposes serious restrictions on the activities of the media and media platforms and will close access to information for free journalists, note journalists, bloggers, and editors-in-chief of Azerbaijani editions.

Today, about two dozen people have taken part in the protest action held in front of the parliament building in Baku. The protesters were chanting the slogans: “You cannot make free media keep silence”, “We do not want to be reporters within the borders”, and “Journalism is not a crime”, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent, who visited the place of the protest action, reported.

Journalist Nurlan Libre Gakhramanly, an organizer of the protest action, came to the place in front of the Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis (parliament) with a model of a black coffin with the inscription “Free Press”. The model was immediately taken away from the journalist by the police. However, the police did not interfere with the protest action, and after the organizers read out their declaration, the police pushed the crowd out onto Parliamentary Avenue without detaining anyone.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 24, 2021 at 04:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.