Court fines user for social slander

The Tovuz District Court has partially granted a civil claim concerning the protection of honour, dignity, and personal reputation, ordering the retraction of defamatory online statements and the payment of moral damages.

The plaintiff sought a public retraction and 100,000 manats in compensation, submitting that the defendant systematically published videos on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram containing degrading remarks targeting the plaintiff and family members while exposing private life matters to unauthorized public scrutiny.

Reviewing the video evidence, the court invoked Article 32 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, ruling that private and family life is strictly protected and that children's lineage cannot be made a subject of public degradation. The court further underscored that the broader public scrutiny applied to known figures does not entitle outsiders to intrude upon the private lives of non-public family members.

Concluding the hearings, the bench ruled the published statements defamatory, awarding the plaintiff 7,000 manats in moral damages alongside 90 manats in statutory court fees.