The highest judicial instance in Azerbaijan, the Constitutional Court "is considering amendments that would ban the broadcast or publication of video, audio, or photographs of any person without his or her prior approval, except in yet-to-be defined special cases", reports RFE/RL.
According to local media law expert Alasgar Mammadli, if these amendments get approval, the situation will look like this:
If a journalist catches a member of parliament sleeping during proceedings -- a dereliction of duty the public should be informed of, he said -- the amendment would require the journalist to wake the MP, ask his permission to shoot, wait for him to fall asleep again, and then push the record button.
Moreover, if someone refuses to give an interview, or comment on any issue, journalists won't have any rights to publish the footage, where that person will say: "I don't want to talk to you".
Constitutional Court is at the focus of controversies these days, because of another case before it. Recently, the Parliament of Azerbaijan decided to lift presidential term limits and asked the Court to rule about its constitutionality. Currently a person can be elected to the office of the President of Azerbaijan only twice, whereas ruling party wants the country to hold a referendum to eliminate any such limits.
As anticipated, on 24 December, the Court ruled to allow the requested referendum. Chairman of the Court, Farhad Abdullayev, said that there were no legal obstacles to such a referendum. If approved, these amendments could clear the way for Ilham Aliyev, the incumbent President of Azerbaijan to run for a third presidential term. He was elected as the President in 2003, and re-elected in October this year.
Meanwhile, the police broke up the protest by some opposition activists who tried to hold a demonstration in front of the Counstitutional Court building.
Below is the amateur video from the protest.
Well, not good news in both cases, but one thing that struck me -- the fact that someone was allowed to video without interference from the police. We've had so many problems with police here restricting the work of journalists, photographers and non-government linked video cameramen, it stands out quite significantly.
Admittedly, the situation has vastly improved since the 1 March riots and the subsequent interest from the CE monitoring things in the country, but even so. Still, I guess if that law passes, policemen might also say journalists need their permission? Even without such a law here, they try that line constantly on me and have even broken one lens shade by thrusting a riot shield into my camera when I was trying to shoot.
Regarding the referendum to remove the constitutional restriction on serving more than two terms in office, well, sorry to hear it. We're led to believe that Aliyev is quite popular in Azerbaijan compared to what I suppose is a relatively non-existent opposition, but even so. I guess it was either this or passing on power to Mehriban, his wife, but I wonder, can this mobilize the opposition in order to prevent the ban being lifted?
Interestingly, another question is linked to the Karabakh negotiations. Forgetting the rhetoric coming out of Baku for now, any settlement based on what we think are the Madrid principles would have to include a referendum in a localized location, in this case, Karabakh. That is prohibited by the Constitution which states referendums have to be held nationwide. Therefore, what I'm interested in is whether any other changes to the Constitution might be included along with lifting the presidential two-term restriction.