28 February 2007, 20:37
Azerbaijani authorities would not let journalists to the process on Insanov's case
On February 28, the Court for Grave Crimes has continued the proceedings of the case of Ali Insanov, ex-Minister of Public Health of Azerbaijan, and a group of his former subordinates. We note here that the correspondents of independent and opposition mass media have not been admitted to the trial. Same as on February 22, the officers of the Court for Grave Crimes were letting journalists into the courtroom according to the list they had in hand.
According to informal sources, the list of media loyal to the authorities was received from the presidential administration. Having let the enlisted journalists into the room, the officers have announced, like in the previous case, that there were no more places in the room.
On the previous occasion, Aflatun Amashev, head of the Board of Press, promised that this would never repeat again. In the opinion of the editors-in-chief of independent mass media, the reason for non-admittance of certain journalists into the courtroom was the desire of the authorities not to admit publication in the media of Ali Insanov's statements, in which he exposes the party in power.
Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent