Premieres Lignes Supports Elise Lucet And Laurent Richard: Azerbaidjan Sues Our Two Journalists To Export Censorship In France

VIDEO TEASER IN ENGLISH – Elise Lucet from France 2 and Laurent Richard from Premières Lignes are being sued by the country of Azerbaidjan for defamation in a French Court for describing the oil-rich state as a “dictatorship”. This trial in France could set an important precedent for foreing governments exporting their censorship beyond their borders, to curb freedom of the press.

See the articles in English:

“Former Soviet republic goes to court in bid to ‘export censorship’ beyond its borders”, by Jon Allsop, Columbia Journalism Review

“French journalists in court accused of defaming Azerbaijan”, by Associated Press on The Washington Post’s web site

The Azerbaijani Laundromat, by the OCCRP (The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) and Transparency International.

The Azerbaijani Laundromat is a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund that handled $2.9 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the UK.

The scheme was uncovered through a joint investigation by Berlingske (Denmark), OCCRP, The Guardian (UK), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Le Monde (France), Tages-Anzeiger and Tribune de Genève (Switzerland), De Tijd (Belgium), Novaya Gazeta (Russia), Dossier (Austria), Atlatszo.hu (Hungary), Delo (Slovenia), RISE Project (Romania), Bivol (Bulgaria), Aripaev (Estonia), Czech Center for Investigative Journalism (Czech Republic), and Barron’s (US).