Shortly before, in Strasbourg, one more organization joined the Platform to Protect Journalists established by the Council of Europe. In the conversation with the journalists, the Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland alarmed that there are no favorable conditions in one-third of the CU countries in terms of freedom of press. The Committee to Protect Journalists joined the platform. CoE Secretary General said, “The journalists are subjected to numerous intimidations, and they must be visible for the governments of the member states. The aim of the platform is to make every problem visible for the member countries. Any restriction against the journalists, a violence and threats will be discussed on this platform.”
Mr. Jagland expressed concern about what it means that an oligarch is an owner of a media, it can have dangerous consequences. Note that the platform started operations since April 2015 and has already discussed 84 alerts from 21 member countries. Twenty-five of them refer to the physical violence against journalists, 21 – detention and imprisonment, 8 – impunity, 8 – harassment against the journalists, and 22 – restrictions to the freedom of press in one way of another. Eleven alerts are related to the murders of journalists, eight of which are related to Charles Ebdoy harassment.
Azerbaijani journalist asked the Secretary General of the Council of Europe whether the existence of the platform may possibly change a situation in Azerbaijan in a positive way, Mr. Jagland replied, “It’s hard to say whether the situation in Azerbaijan will be changed or not, as long as the human rights defenders and journalists are in prison. It is a serious matter for us, as we have a member country, where the situation is awful in this regard. First of all, the Azerbaijani authorities should carry out the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
