— AZERBAIJAN:
— AZERBAIJAN:
Under a defamation statute, a Baku court fined two newspapers which alleged President Haidar Aliev had helped organize the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey. Other papers face similar charges for implying that Aliev is in fact of Kurdish descent, and libel charges have been filed against a newspaper which said Aliev was ready to cut a deal with Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Ministry of Justice has charged two opposition politicians with “insulting [the president’s] honor and dignity” and with slander for making similar statements.
