{"id":6542,"date":"2026-08-24T23:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2026-08-24T23:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:07:41","slug":"azerbaijans-lawyer-defends-defamation-suit-against-cnn-these-untrue-statements-actually-put-lives-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6542","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan\u2019s Lawyer Defends Defamation Suit Against CNN: \u2018These Untrue Statements Actually Put Lives at Risk\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nAzerbaijan is very upset about a June 5 report on CNN that Israeli troops had used the country as a staging area for attacks on Iran. The country\u2019s government says that the report, based on anonymous sources, is both completely wrong and dangerous, as it risks drawing Azerbaijan into the conflict.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn this situation, most governments would issue a condemnatory statement and leave it at that. But Azerbaijan has gone a step farther, filing a defamation suit against CNN in Delaware last week. CNN\u2019s response: \u201cWe stand by our reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe acknowledges that this situation is unusual, and admits that the First Amendment gives Americans the right to criticize their own government without fear of liability. But, it argues that the same logic does not apply to a foreign government, \u201cwhich is not accountable to the American electorate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo bring the case, Azerbaijan hired Wayne Dennison, a partner at Brown Rudnick who is best known for his work as part of Johnny Depp\u2019s legal team in the case against Amber Heard.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview, Dennison defended the suit, saying that his client is entitled to recourse for reckless reporting. \u201cThese untrue statements actually put lives at risk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt would have been news to me that a foreign government would even think about suing for defamation, or that it would have standing to do that. How is that possible?\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s long been clear that foreign sovereigns have the right to use the U.S. courts to redress harms that have been addressed to them. That\u2019s a fundamental portion of the jurisdiction of our federal courts, and foreign governments have the opportunity to do this. With respect to this case in particular, what we\u2019ve what we\u2019ve looked at is we have a U.S. entity, CNN, engaged in activities that we think are improper and ultimately tortious. And the way in which this government will bring CNN to justice and ultimately to the table is to sue on CNN\u2019s home court. Why\u2019d you bring suit in the U. S.? Because that\u2019s where the defendant is.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tFrom the journalism standpoint, obviously there\u2019s a total right to criticize the United States government embedded in the Constitution, right? And I would think that U.S. citizens would also have pretty wide latitude in terms of criticizing foreign governments, too.\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re not talking about criticism. What we\u2019re talking about are direct, factual statements that relate absolutely to an ongoing war. CNN is making statements relative to my clients\u2019 activities in a war that my clients absolutely unequivocally say are untrue. And the result of these untrue statements actually put lives at risk. I know you phrase this in terms of \u201ccriticism.\u201d We\u2019re not talking about criticism. What we\u2019re talking about here are statements that \u2014 literally the way CNN attributes this is \u201csomebody said,\u201d right? They say \u201cWe have an unnamed source.\u201d That is literally nothing more than \u201csomebody said.\u201d And frankly, if what they had reported was \u201cIranian officials say this,\u201d or \u201cIran has taken the position that this occurred.\u201d OK, then readers can assess for themselves whether these people are being truthful. But what we have is a report that is nothing other than \u201csomebody said,\u201d and I don\u2019t think you ought to have the umbrella of the First Amendment to protect you from, \u201cHey, I heard this thing,\u201d especially when you\u2019re in a situation where people may die.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tIn order to pursue this case, would you have to go get discovery from CNN \u2014 like, basically, \u201cTell me who your sources are.\u201d\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tThat may very well be where this ends up. And candidly, part of what you\u2019re talking about here has always been one of the lesser holdings of New York Times v. Sullivan<\/em>. And I think New York Times v. Sullivan<\/em> has had some significant questions raised with respect to its continued viability, and this is a Supreme Court that seems far less interested in stare decisis<\/em> than previous courts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tYou think there\u2019s an openness to allowing some government claim of defamation, despite what New York Times v. Sullivan<\/em> says about that.\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not the only claim. There\u2019s a prima-facie tort allegation under Delaware law. But the ultimate issue is that we very much expect to be able to go forward and to allege that if your sole reliance as a news organization is on an argument that \u201csomebody said\u201d \u2014 and the reporter, with respect to this, has a known history of anti-Azerbaijani reporting \u2014 that maybe you got to do a little more, as a news organization.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tI hear your argument. I would wonder about a chilling effect. Think of foreign dissidents coming to the U.S. and speaking out against their home government. If Iran can come into U.S. courts and sue people who criticize its government, even if what they say is ridiculous and false, it feels like opening a door that you might not want to open.\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tYeah, and again, I understand the use of the word \u201ccriticism.\u201d They made a factual statement that we believe to be \u2014 and we believe we can prove to be \u2014 untrue. And it\u2019s a factual statement that literally throws an entire country in the middle of a war. At some point, whatever the issue is, you got to look up and say, \u201cHey, I got to get this right.\u201d I don\u2019t know how to look at it any other way.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tIf this gets to trial, you will have to show somehow that, in fact, Israeli troops were not staged in Azerbaijan.\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tI assume that they are going to raise as a defense, truth, because that\u2019s a complete defense to defamation. We will then establish that what they reported was untrue, which in fact it was untrue.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tYou spoke about the peril here. But in terms of the harm suffered, is there a way to quantify the harm to the government of Azerbaijan in terms of dollars from this report?\t<\/h5>\n

\n\tWe haven\u2019t made a damages estimate. And candidly, as we proceed, it\u2019s unclear what the damages are going to be. The damages have been very, very significant in terms of international relations. But I can\u2019t tell you to the dollar what the ultimate number is going to be. Frankly, one of the things that we have asked repeatedly from CNN, including in the complaint, is to simply retract the article. And thus far, that that\u2019s been met with either silence or resistance.<\/p>\n

Read more How to Watch the Dunkman World Championship Final Online for Free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Azerbaijan sued CNN over a report it says is false and put lives at risk. But can governments sue for defamation?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[5075,376],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-azerbaijan","tag-cnn"],"yoast_head":"\nAzerbaijan\u2019s Lawyer Defends Defamation Suit Against CNN: \u2018These Untrue Statements Actually Put Lives at Risk\u2019 - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6542\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azerbaijan\u2019s Lawyer Defends Defamation Suit Against CNN: \u2018These Untrue Statements Actually Put Lives at Risk\u2019 - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Azerbaijan sued CNN over a report it says is false and put lives at risk. 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