Epress.am News from Armenia
Georgian journalist, editor of the newspaper Metro Lazo Lazareishvili, has asked Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for temporary refuge in Azerbaijan, Contact.az reports.
Speaking at a press conference at the Institute of Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in Baku on Wednesday, Lazareishvili said he is asking for asylum because he is being persecuted in his own country due to complaints he filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). These complaints are related to his arrest and conviction to nine months imprisonment in September 2009 on charges of abuse of power.
Lazareishvili’s arrest was preceded by his paper’s investigation into Georgia’s judicial system, which revealed nearly 30 criminal cases against independent arbitrators and lawyers involved with economic disputes (cases considered by the arbitrators by mutual consent of the parties). According to the journalist, the pressure on arbitrators was because they offered to pass the economic disputes to some British company, but ultimately, this was not carried out.
Lazareishvili himself a lawyer by profession, also acted as arbitrator, combining this work with journalist activities. However, during one of the proceedings, a party which was not happy with the decision by the arbitrator filed a complaint against Lazareishili not only in civil court, but with the Prosecutor’s Office too. “It was illegal, and illogical, because during a criminal investigation the case was dragged on, and the interested party was losing time to realize their economic interest,” said Lazareishvili.
Lazareishvili was arrested and spent nine months in custody. His sentence was also for nine months, and he was fined 5,000 lari (about $2,000), then released.
Because of the criminal prosecution, Lazareishvili has filed two complaints with the ECHR, protesting the arrest and sentence. Both statements have been accepted. However, the journalist’s desire to seek justice in ECHR resulted in his persecution.
“I am constantly pursued by unknown men who warn me, that if I do not revoke the complaint, it will be worse. They introduce themselves as police officers. I appealed to the Interior Ministry, but after 15 minutes the men came again with threats,” said Lazerishvili.
He expects to receive temporary shelter in Azerbaijan as long as the ECHR does not oblige Georgian authorities to provide security guarantees to the journalist.
Lazareishvili has been in Baku since Jan. 4, but has not yet received an answer to his appeal to Azerbaijan’s president.
The Embassy of Georgia in Azerbaijan, however, denied Lazereishvili’s statement about being persecuting for his professional activities.
“The embassy does not know a man named Lazo Lazereishvili, and his allegations on the pressure on him in Georgia are not serious,” said an embassy official, commenting on the statements made by Lazereishvili at yesterday’s press conference.
“Nobody in Georgia is persecuted for professional practice, and especially [not] journalists,” noted the diplomat. As for the threat of a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, they are not serious at all, according to the same source.