(CPJ/IFEX) – Savalan Mamedov, chief editor of the weekly “Istintag” newspaper in Baku, was freed from prison on 23 January 1998. Mamedov, who was arrested on 22 December 1997 (see IFEX alert), still faces trial on criminal libel charges against a former district prosecutor. According to the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, Mamedov is charged […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Savalan Mamedov, chief editor of the weekly “Istintag”
newspaper in Baku, was freed from prison on 23 January 1998. Mamedov, who
was arrested on 22 December 1997 (see IFEX alert), still faces trial on
criminal libel charges against a former district prosecutor. According to
the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, Mamedov is charged under three
penal code articles for libel, insult and abuse of authority (articles
121, 122 and 167). He was released after the editors of several Baku
newspapers raised his case with a visiting delegation from the Council of
Europe.
**Updates IFEX alert of 9 January 1998**