On September 13, the court in Baku ruled in favor of blocking access to the YouTube channel of an online news site “Hürriyyət” [Hurriyyet]. The decision was based on the request from the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The court in its ruling said the news site violated the law on Information, informatization, and protection of information, by publishing prohibited information. Specifically, the court referred to a guest on the show, Elnur Mammadov, who is a reserve colonel and who allegedly shared untrue information about the leaders of the Azerbaijan Army and the Ministry of Defense, thus damaging their reputation.
Earlier, on July 24, the General Prosecutor’s Office requested the arrest of the editor-in-chief of the news site Vugar Mammadov and Elnur Mammadov. Both were sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention for spreading prohibited information online.
Mammadov in his interview discussed cases of corruption and nepotism within the Ministry of Defense as well as raised allegations against the Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov.