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Legal Action
December 3
Azer Husseinbala, Azadlig,LEGAL ACTION
Husseinbala, a correspondent for the newspaper Azadlig (Liberty), was stripped of his accreditation by order of the new speaker of the Parliament, Murtuz Aleskerov. The action was in violation of Article 37 of the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic on the Mass Media, whereby a journalist cannot be stripped of his or her accreditation without a court order. Aleskerov tried to justify the move by saying that Husseinbala had "negatively assessed the processes taking place in the republic" in several satirical articles. Aleskerov threatened to take the same action against other reporters who criticized the Parliament or its members. When a group of 23 Azeri journalists appealed to Aleskerov to reverse his decision, he told them their appeal was "false."
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