REGULATIONS ON STATE SECRECY INTRODUCED IN AZERBAIJAN

On August 28, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliev
passed a decree on "Rules on preventing the dissemination of state
secrets in mass media". A law "About state secrecy" was adopted
on November 15, 1996 and the Council of Europe suggested to Azerbaijan's
authorities to make serious changes in it. The rules apply to mass media,
founded and acting on the territory of Azerbaijan. 

It is noted in the Decree that editors and journalists
bear the responsibility for disseminating state secrets and must not allow
their dissemination in mass media. If the editors are in doubt whether a
report contains a state secret, they should address a request to the
interdepartmental commission on protecting state secrets of the Presidency of
Azerbaijan. The Commission is obliged to give an official response to such
requests within seven days. In case the Commission defines that the submitted
report includes a state secret, it may require the release of the source of
this information and the submission of an original copy. If a report
containing a state secret is disseminated, the commission must apply to the
court in order to ascertain the source. For breaching these rules, editors and
journalists bear responsibility according to current legislation. 

Most items of the law about state secrecy are in
contradiction to Azerbaijan's obligations to international organizations on
ensuring freedom of the press and transparency of state agencies' activity.
That's why Council of Europe included this law in a list of legislative acts,
which needs obligatory and thorough improvement. And now necessary steps are
being undertaken in this direction. 

Some provisions of the recent Decree contradict both
the Constitution and the law on the mass media. According to law, only courts
may demand from mass media the release of a source of information. And
submitting an original copy on the request of the interdepartmental commission
on protecting state secrecy at the presidency amounts to restoring preliminary
censorship. The Journalists' union "Yeni nesil" was the first to
react to this decree. It made a statement that these new rules hade been the
cause of journalists' anxiety. "In accordance with Azerbaijan's
obligations to Council of Europe, there amendments in the law on freedom of
information and the law on state secrecy need to be made. We call on our
government to urgently update the above-mentioned laws from the standpoint of
requirements brought up by the Council of Europe. The decree itself needs to
be changed, as the state obliged not only to determine state secrecy, but also
to protect it. And hence this responsibility cannot be shifted on to
journalists". 

On September 4, a roundtable with the participation of
the heads of a number of leading mass media took place in the Baku press-club.
Editors are sure that the implementation of the new rules would lead to
refusal of people who used to cooperate with the mass media previously.
Fearing for their safety, they would prefer not to release information of
public interest. Moreover, journalists themselves would avoid publishing
materials and reports of vital importance for the public. Thus censorship
would practically be reintroduced in Azerbaijan. 

According to the chief of TURAN news agency Mehman
Aliev, it is not right to make journalists responsible for keeping state
secrecy. "How can mass media representatives define what is secret and
what is not? Mechanisms and criteria on determining grades of state secrecy
haven't been worked out yet". 

Simultaneously, the head of the working group of the
interdepartmental commission on protecting state secrecy at the Presidency,
Nuraddin Nifitev who participated in the roundtable, declared that the new
rules pose absolutely no threat to freedom of speech and would not amount to
new censorship. 

The reaction of international structures on
introducing the new regulations was rather tough. International human rights
organization Article19 expressed its serious anxiety regarding this Decree.
Most serious among them is requirement to submit to the Presidential
Commission in order to determine if a report contains a state secret.
"Such practice will to a certain extent turn into new censorship of
self-censorship for journalists and exercise restraining influence on the
process of getting and dissemination of information," a statement from
Article19 noted. 

Anxiety also arises from the fact that state secrecy
is connected to such spheres as possible government corruption, using finances
of public funds, ecology, health, etc. Another problem is that journalists are
obliged to release the sources of their information. "It is a breach of
the fundamental principle of free press about protecting source", the
statement says. 

In a recent interview, the secretary general of
"Reporters sans frontiers" Robert Menard stated that the adopted
decree threatens freedom of the press in Azerbaijan, as they strengthen
government control upon the contents of news. Pushing mass media to check
information for state secrecy before its publishing, the government hinders
journalists from their work, breaches their right not to release sources of
information and contributes to introducing of self-censorship. 

According to him "Reporters sans frontiers"
directed a letter to the President of Azerbaijan, explaining that this measure
is absolutely unacceptable, as he committed himself to the Council of Europe
to respect European standards of freedom of information. 

According to Shahin Aliyev, director of the department
of legal affairs of the office of the President, the legislative base
regarding state secrecy, and in particular, the obligatory release of sources
of information on demand of the executive body is indeed outdated and needs to
be reviewed. He did not exclude the possibility of inserting amendments into
the Decree, and promised to discuss all these issues within the shortest
possible time and that answers to all questions would be given in a short
time. This points to a readiness for compromise on the part of the government,
though it remains quite unclear why the authorities decided to strain the
situation in the first place. 

Gulnara Ismailova