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:
“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).
This project is part of the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, a collaboration started by OCCRP and Transparency International.
Laurent Richard’s film, FIGRA Investigation Award 2016 (Full documentary in French)
