Today, 4 May, in the Yasamal District Court, under the chairmanship of Judge Khagani Mammadov, a hearing was held on the lawsuit of National Union Movement Head Lale Shovket against Olke newspaper.

Plaintiff representatives Avaz Temirkhan, Elkhan Abbasov, defendants Rafail Bejanov, Nijat Daglar (Huseynov),  Nasimi Sherefkhanli, Zulfugar Huseynov, and the newspaper’s plenipotentiary Azer Rasulov participated in the hearing.   

Avaz Temirkhan said that the autobiography of L. Shovket Hajiyeva in her Wikipedia page matches the autobiography of Secret Service (KGB) agent in the article in question, and he asked the defendant, “why?” Defendant Nijat Daglar said that the autobiography of Lale Shovket Hajiyeva was taken from Wikipedia, but this information was not introduced as the autobiography of the Secret Service (KGB) agent. Other defendants also claimed that the article in question did not have any connection to L.Shovket Hajiyeva.

Olke newspaper’s plenipotentiary Azer Rasulov pointed out that the Secret Service (KGB) agent was not meant to be L.Shovket Hajiyeva, and it is not correct to sue a journalist for his/her opinions. Then both parties filed a motion to send the article for a linguistic examination.

The judge fulfilled the motion and issued a decision to cease the consideration of the lawsuit until the result of the examination is identified.

On 11-17 February Olke newspaper published an article entitled “Who is the agent with the nickname ‘Madam.’” L.Shovket claimed that information about her not conforming to reality found its place in the article, and therefore, demanded that a refutation be published in the newspaper, and that they apologize and each pay 100 000 AZN in fines. It is noted in the lawsuit that the amount received from the defendants via court decision should be deposited into the account of special facility in Bilgah village for war and labor invalids.

Weekly Olke newspaper began operating in February 2008.