Frankly speaking, there is no need to do any research for Mehman Huseynov`s arrest based on 147.2 article of Azerbaijan`s Criminal Code. Any person who is interested in the media can talk defamations, which he spread, for hours. This is only one side of the medallion. Mehman used to insult people who commented on his post in the internet. In this regard, article 148 would be added to his lawsuit. Obviously, the court wanted to be humanist to the " blogger ".
Who is " blogger "? People with thousands of active followers can be considered as blogger. Sociologists say that each person can share information at least with 4 people. In short, if you get 5000 visitors to your post, you can be considered as if addressing an audience of 20000. This number is serious enough and requires social media users to bear responsibility. If a person calls himself `blogger`, you would not be insured from any responsibilities.
Bloggerism is not immunity; neither " blogger "nor " journalist "has right of privacy. They must obey the rules of the country they live as everyone else. Otherwise, they will be charged. The problem only occurs when the issue becomes a tool for political speculation.
Both journalists and bloggers are normal people who can fight with someone else, insult, swindle, defame someone and consequently can be punished. But the international organizations which seek political advantages will stars campaign like `journalist/blogger was arrested in that country violating human rights`. What do I do now? Let blogger give a kick against his surroundings, swear at people and cast aspersions and insult. Would no one intervene him because reporters without borders were waiting in the ambush?
Look around the world to understand the situation. According to the report of “Mapping Media Freedom”, a total of 1,387 reports of pressures and limitations to journalists were verified in 2016. Nine journalists were killed. 347 were arrested. The main thing is that none of them is politicized.
After Donald Trump came to power in the USA, 6 journalists were detained because of their participation in illegal protests: Jack Keller, Aaron Cantu, Shay Horse, Evan Engel, Matthew Hopard and Alexander Rubinstein. They rejected the accusations saying that they only wanted to report the protests. Local human rights defenders claimed that the journalists did only their jobs there. However, we cannot come across any campaign like ‘Freedom of speech is violated in the USA’…
Last year blogger, Martin Kok who wrote about crimes in the Netherlands was shot to death in his car. The murder was not politicized and the local mafia made responsible for his murder. Besides, 3 journalists were killed in Sweden on duty. One journalist murder was in Serbia and Croatia .
French Defense Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian launched a criminal investigation against the famous newspaper ‘Le Monde’ . It was claimed that ‘Le Monde’ disclosed covert information on operations conducted by the French Special Forces in Libya.
Famous journalist, Florence Hartmann was arrested on charges of publishing secret documents on the Srebrenica genocide. Again the situation was not politicized.
Last year 225 FETO linked journalists were detained and 125 of them were arrested in Turkey.
Montenegrin investigative journalist Jovo Martinović has been charged with aiding and belonging to a drugs-trafficking gang.
Last year 18 criminal cases were filed against journalists in Italy. The President of Prisa Group Juan Luis Cebrián sued the “El Confidencial” online newspaper for defamation in Spain. Prisa Group demanded €8.2 compensation. The website claimed that Cebrián tied in Panama Papers story. However, when it comes to Mehman Huseynov, defamation will change into something different.
Totally, 51 journalists were arrested out of 41 European countries in 2016. However, have you ever encountered any Western state or NGO making a fuss about the oppression of free speech in Europe? Of course, you are not, because somehow it is considered in Europe as a rule of law, but in Azerbaijan as violation of law.
Frankly speaking, I am not favor of Mehman Huseynov`s arrest, because on one hand this bummer boy will be turned into a hero, on the other hand `detained` blogger Mehman tarnishes Azerbaijan`s reputation. He is like a radioactive waste: when he doesn`t do anything emits radiation to the environment, when he does something causes trouble.
Vusal Mammedov is an analyst and editor-in-chief of AzVision.az
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