OSCE MEDIA FREEDOM REPRESENTATIVE ADDRESSES MEDIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 001523

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM KPAO OPRC AJ
SUBJECT: OSCE MEDIA FREEDOM REPRESENTATIVE ADDRESSES MEDIA
FREEDOM PROBLEMS IN AZERBAIJAN

REF: BAKU 1484

Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse for reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: OSCE Special Representative for Media Freedom
Miklos Haraszti visited Baku October 8 to 11 in response to
the international community's concern over the deteriorating
state of media freedom in Azerbaijan. At a October 9 briefing
for OSCE member states, Haraszti reported that President
Aliyev rejected the OSCE's criticism of Azerbaijan's media
freedom record, and defended the right of GOAJ officials to
criminally sue irresponsible journalists for libel. Haraszti
affirmed that imprisoning journalists for libel was contrary
to Azerbaijan's human rights commitments and inconsistent
with the standards of other OSCE member states. Although
Aliyev rebuffed Haraszti's criticism in their October 9
meeting, he subsequently privately told the British
Ambassador (strictly protect) that he would likely pardon
imprisoned journalists in October. In a separate meeting with
Foreign Minister Mammadyarov, Haraszti expressed the
international community's concern over the GOAJ media
regulator's failure to re-license ANS TV and Radio, and over
its recent attempt to stop ANS' daily broadcast of VOA,
RFE/RL and BBC programming in Azerbaijan. Haraszti said that
he considers the VOA, RFE/RL and BBC broadcasts to be
compliant with international standards, rejecting the GOAJ
position that these foreign programs required individual
domestic broadcast licenses from GOAJ media regulators. FM
Mammadyarov was more receptive to the media freedoms message.
End Summary.

OSCE REP. ASSESSES DETERIORATION IN MEDIA FREEDOM
-------------- --------------


2. (C) OSCE Special Representative for Freedom of the Media
Miklos Harazsti visited Baku October 8 to 11 in response to
growing international community concern over the
deterioration of media freedoms in Azerbaijan. On October 9
Haraszti met with President Aliyev and Foreign Minister
Mammadyarov and thereafter briefed OSCE member state
Ambassadors and diplomats on the substance of his talks.
Haraszti affirmed that, in the OSCE's assessment, media
freedom in Azerbaijan has steadily eroded over the past six
months. Haraszti cited the number of libel suits filed by
politicians against journalists, two still unresolved
physical assaults on opposition reporters, the imprisonment
of political satirist Mirza Sakit, the GOAJ failure to
reissue the broadcast license of ANS television, and its
recent attempt to cut off ANS and AntennFM rebroadcasting of
VOA, RFE/RL and BBC programming (reftel) as specific
concerns. Haraszti also said that he applied the "taxi driver
test" to the Mirza Sakit case, asking ordinary Azeris what
they thought about Sakit's imprisonment on drug possession
charges, with most drivers generally dismissing the charges
as a set up.


3. (C) Haraszti said that the GOAJ practice of criminally
prosecuting journalists for libel was inconsistent with the
rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and with
Azerbaijan's commitments under the European Convention on
Human Rights (ECHR). To date, he added, five journalists have
been charged and sentenced to prison on criminal libel
charges. Haraszti said that all other OSCE member states have
either de facto or de jure prohibitions on criminal libel
prosecutions. Haraszti described the sudden rise in criminal
libel as an indication that the 2005 "Aliyev moratorium" on
libel suits had effectively ended. (President Aliyev
announced a moratorium on libel suits after the March 2005
murder of prominent opposition journalist Elmar Huseynov.)

ALIYEV REBUFFS OSCE CRITICISM...
--------------


4. (C) Haraszti reported that President Aliyev was generally
"negative" in their October 9 meeting. When pressed on the
rising number of criminal libel suits, Aliyev replied that he
could not be expected to stop his ministers from suing
libelous journalists to protect their reputations. Haraszti
reminded Aliyev of the positive impact Aliyev's March 2005
moratorium on libel suits had on the Azerbaijani media
climate, but Haraszti reported that Aliyev seems unmoved by
the argument. Haraszti said that he made the mistake of
telling Aliyev that Georgia (and the rest of the GUAM states)
had already decriminalized libel, which only seemed to offend
Aliyev and harden his opposition against decriminalizing
libel.


5. (C) According to Haraszti, Aliyev said that he expected
journalists to take the first step after the 2005 moratorium
through more responsible reporting but that instead
journalists continued to "slander and attack public

BAKU 00001523 002 OF 003


officials." However, Aliyev reiterated he himself had never
filed a criminal libel suit against any reporter. According
to Haraszti, Aliyev was downbeat on the possibility of
passing legislation to decriminalize libel. (Presidential
political advisor Ali Hasanov echoed this position at the
OSCE's October 11 roundtable on defamation suits.) Haraszti
told Aliyev that it was possible for politicians to obtain
satisfaction against slander through the civil suit process
and that criminal libel prosecution was not consistent with
Azerbaijan's democratic aspirations. Aliyev reportedly pushed
back, chastising Haraszti for the OSCE's continued criticism
of GOAJ performance on human rights and democracy, and adding
that the GOAJ did not receive sufficient acknowledgment for
taking positive steps forward in the larger picture of
Azerbaijan's transition toward democracy.

...BUT A PARDON FOR SENTENCED JOURNALISTS LIKELY
-------------- ---


6. (C) Haraszti asked President Aliyev to consider pardoning
the imprisoned journalists on the occasion of Azerbaijani
sovereignty day on October 18. Subsequent to the
Aliyev-Haraszti meeting, Haraszti said his staff received a
phone call from the president's office requesting the names
of those journalists imprisoned for criminal libel.
Separately, British Ambassador Laurie Bristow (strictly
protect) told the Ambassador October 10 that President Aliyev
told him privately that he would pardon the journalists
imprisoned for libel in the near future. Aliyev also told
Bristow that he would look again at the question of
decriminalizing libel.

OSCE REP: FOREIGN BROADCASTS CONSISTENT WITH INTL STANDARDS
-------------- --


7. (C) The Ambassador and British Ambassador Bristow
underscored to Haraszti the USG and British government's
concern over the National TV and Radio Council's (NTRC)
unilateral prohibition on ANS TV's right to rebroadcast VOA,
RFE/RL and BBC (reftel). Haraszti said that he raised the
question of VOA, RFE/RL and BBC rebroadcasting rights and the
problem of the NTRC's failure to reissue ANS' broadcast
license in over a year with Foreign Minister Mammadyarov.
Haraszti said that his office believes the NTRC's claim that
VOA, RFE/RL and BBC require a separate license agreement to
be broadcast on domestic channels to be inconsistent with
internationally accepted media broadcast standards. Haraszti
assessed that foreign broadcasts are private contracts
between ANS TV and AntennFM radio, and VOA, RFE/RL and the
BBC, that do not require individual licenses. Haraszti said
he believed the NTRC's action to be yet another attempt at
harassing ANS TV and radio.


8. (C) Mammadyarov reportedly was sympathetic to the OSCE's
media freedom concerns, telling Haraszti that ANS is the best
television channel in Azerbaijan and the one that he watches
most. Haraszti said that the Foreign Minister recognized that
these individual media freedom problems (libel suits,
assaults, licensing disputes) taken together harm
Azerbaijan's international reputation. Mammadyarov also
acknowledged that if journalists had the money, some would
appeal their sentences to the ECHR and would have legitimate
cases. Mammadyarov told Haraszti that the GOAJ and OSCE
should work together to increase the quality of journalism in
Azerbaijan through further training programs and exchange
opportunities.

GOAJ LICENSING SYSTEM ANTIQUATED
--------------


9. (C) Haraszti told OSCE diplomats that the entire GOAJ
approach to licensing, codified in the 2002 national
television and radio law, is cumbersome and outmoded in the
digital age. Haraszti said that license systems such as
Azerbaijan's were created because of the scarcity of surface
broadcast frequencies on which to transmit programming; a
scarcity problem eliminated in the U.S. and Europe by our
transition to digital broadcasting. Consequently,
Azerbaijan's "new" licensing regime is already a relic of the
past.

COMMENT
--------------


10. (C) While it is too early to say for sure, Haraszti's
long overdue visit to Baku appears to have had some impact on
President Aliyev, who privately committed himself to
pardoning the imprisoned journalists a day after meeting
Haraszti. However, GOAJ intransigence on decriminalizing
libel, the unresolved physical assaults on two journalists,
the imprisonment of Mirza Sakit, and the NTRC's latest effort

BAKU 00001523 003 OF 003


to attack ANS TV and Radio by stopping VOA and RFE/RL
programming, make clear that a presidential pardon is the
first of several steps needed to redress the deterioration of
the media environment over the past six months. We will
continue to press the issue.
DERSE