AZERBAIJAN: CHANGES TO MEDIA LAW CONSTRICT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000132 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM AJ SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: CHANGES TO MEDIA LAW CONSTRICT JOURNALISTS, ACTIVITIES Classified By: ACTING DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION TERRY DAVIDSON, FOR REASO NS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Azerbaijan's Parliament on February 12 approved changes to media legislation that further restrict journalists from gathering and disseminating information while reinforcing the government's ability to investigate the public. In an already constrained media environment, these changes could further hamper attempts at real journalism, but it is too early to tell how the government will implement the law. END SUMMARY MEDIA LAW AMENDMENTS PASS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Azerbaijan's Parliament on February 12 approved changes to media legislation that further restrict journalists from gathering and disseminating information while reinforcing the government's ability to investigate the public. The laws amended included "Freedom of Press," "Mass Media," "Operational and Search Activity," and "Obtaining Information." These laws all now include the following language, with only slight variations to the sanctioned government activity excused: "Excluding the application of operational-investigation, following someone, and subjecting them to video, photo or voice recording by media representatives and other persons without them knowing it or with them objecting to it is punishable as defined by law." The amendments to these laws implement changes to Azerbaijan's Constitution approved during the March 2009 referendum and passed in Parliament with a vote of 92 in favor and 7 against, and 1 abstention. The Parliament has 14 days after the changes are passed to present them to the President, who in turn has 56 days to sign them. OFFICIALS VIEW CHANGES AS PRIVACY PROTECTION -------------- - ¶3. (SBU) Presidential Legal Advisor Shahin Aliyev told the Charge before the vote that the changes to the media law, particularly restricting photography and filming, are geared at privacy protection and meant to thwart irresponsible journalists from disclosing national security information based on intelligence factors. Several members of Parliament during the floor debate asserted the amendments were constitutional. The Chair of the Parliament's Committee for Legal Policy and State Building Ali Huseynov stated that some people seek to politicize these amendments, but they are only "based on the Constitution" and contain "nothing new that might fuel concern." MP Bakhtiyar Sadigov reasserted that the amendments serve to fight "racketeering journalism." (WHILE CRITICS FORESEE RESTRICTED PRESS FREEDOMS -------------- - ¶4. (C) Critics inside and outside of Parliament decried the changes as additional blows to press freedom, noting that the simplest forms of journalism -- such as filming police actions against protesters or photographing a policeman taking a bribe -- would be prohibited. Although President Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party dominates Parliament, a few of the opposition members raised concerns about changing the laws. MP Panah Huseynov (Musavat Party) said the amendment is "aimed at suppressing press freedom." MP Igbal Agazadeh (Umid Party) noted that passing the amendments means when he speaks in Parliament a journalist will be unable to record his voice. The Director of the Media Rights Institute, Rashid Hajily, told poloff that the amendments cover the public, not private, lives of officials. The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety concluded the government changed the media legislation "to conceal the prevailing corruption in the country." OSCE VIEW CHANGES AS "PROBLEMATIC" -------------- - ¶5. (C) The OSCE Head on Democratization Jacqueline Carpenter told an NGO round-table that the amendments are "problematic" within the context of Azerbaijan's OSCE commitments to freedom of expression and the media's right to collect and disseminate information. She told poloff that the amendments "had a more public voice than most" because they were tacitly approved during the March 2009 referendum. The language passed on February 12, however, included restrictions not included in the original referendum language: the legislation excludes government officials and specifically names media representatives. She told poloff that these amendments spring from a "deep misunderstanding of the role BAKU 00000132 002 OF 002 of journalists to work for the public interest." She forecasted other restrictions will follow as "the government consolidates power." ¶6. (C) COMMENT: With Azerbaijan's poor track record on media freedom, Parliament's approval of these new restrictions in the media legislation is unsurprising. Parliament's vote received scant state media coverage, but opposition circles hotly contested the amendments. Most expect that the new laws will be applied unevenly, reserved for harassing those journalists deemed troublesome by authorities. Given the government's need to underscore its achievements via TV and newspaper reports, journalists in sync with official Azerbaijan will surely be given a pass when it comes to these new restrictions. Embassy officials, including at the level of the Ambassador, have raised repeatedly the need for Azerbaijani press law to recognize the concept of "public figures" who should be afforded less, rather than more, protection from media scrutiny, but this new development indicates such calls have fallen on deaf ears. END COMMENT. LU