Court in Baku refuses to ban journalist Vagifgyzy from leaving Azerbaijan

The court has rejected the submission of court marshals, who asked to ban the Azerbaijani journalist Sevindj Vagifgyzy from leaving the country.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 27, 2019, Elmira Alandarova, a deputy school principal, filed a lawsuit against Vagifgyzy, demanding an apology, monetary compensation, and the removal of a video about the April 11, 2018, presidential election from the Internet. The Binagadi District Court partially satisfied Ms Alandarova's lawsuit. On January 14, 2022, court marshals demanded that Vagifgyzy be banned from leaving the country due to the fact that the video that became the subject of the lawsuit was not removed from the Internet. The journalist has treated the demand as unlawful, since the video was posted on the "Meydan TV" resource, and the latter refuses to remove it.

The court session on Sevindj Vagifgyzy's ban on travelling abroad was held on February 14 at the Binagadi District Court, the journalist told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"My advocate and I pointed out that the claimant's demand to remove the video from the 'Meydan TV' website does not apply to me. We submitted a certificate from the 'Meydan TV' refusing to remove the video," Ms Vagifgyzy has explained.

According to her story, after the session, the court decided to deny the motion to impose a ban on her travels abroad. "There are no legal grounds for demanding that I delete the video. I have fulfilled a part of the court ruling and paid the compensation. Now, my advocate and I will contact the department for the execution of court rulings so that the case is completely closed," Sevindj Vagifgyzy has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 15, 2022 at 04:53 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.