Azerbaijan’s government has unleashed a massive crackdown on the civil society and media in the wake of the October presidential election, the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) said today.
A group of police investigators yesterday raided the office of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDSC), the independent election watchdog that enraged the government by reporting irregularities surrounding the Azerbaijan’s election.
The raid began around 11:00 am yesterday in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku and lasted for five hours. Computers and documents were seized. The Prosecutor General’s Office launched investigation “regarding irregularities recorded at the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre”.
The raid on the election watchdog NGO signalled a sharp and very serious escalation of the country’s deepening human rights and political crisis. “It’s a clear message to the government’s critics: ‘Don’t get involved in any issues that question legitimacy of the presidential election”, IRFS CEO and chairman Emin Huseynov said.
“The Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre’s work for free and fair elections contributed to the implementation of Azerbaijan’s international commitments notably within the Council of Europe and the OSCE. The authorities must recognise this work and immediately stop harassment of the organisation”, Huseynov said.
IRFS believes that the government is conducting a carefully coordinated witch hunt aimed at discrediting critics of the government, and particularly those active in the election period.
In a separate case, one of the most vocal critics of the government, a Baku-based opposition newspaper Azadliq faces revenge in court for exposing the government corruption and reporting electoral fraud. The bank accounts of the newspaper are frozen (arrested) over huge defamation debt. ‘It’s a fairly urgent situation. The newspaper faces closure after 24 years of operation. The government has never gone so far in silencing the media’, Huseynov said.
IRFS calls on the Azerbaijani government to end its harassment of media, civil society and activists and take steps to assure that freedom of expression becomes a reality for all.
“Instead of attacking civil society organisations in Azerbaijan and beyond, the government must begin having open dialogue with them. This would allow Azerbaijani citizens to become involved in the decision-making process”, Emin Huseynov of IRFS said.
IRFS reminds that, less than a month after the presidential vote, independent media outlets and human right defenders are still facing unprecedented levels of repression and harassment and the number of prosecutions are on the increase. IRFS calls on the Azerbaijani Government to immediately release all journalists, opposition activists and human rights defenders.
IRFS condemns the failure of the Azerbaijani Government to heed calls from international and regional bodies, such as the Council and Europe, the European Union (EU), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations (UN) to respect and protection of human rights, including freedom of expression.
SHAME ON GREECE!
THE KLEPTOCRATIC ALLIANCE OF PASOK MAFIA AND NEA DEMOCRATIA MAFIA SHOULD NOT PRESIDE EU
THE FREAKISH GOVERNMENT OF GREECE STOLE MY COMPUTER, MY FILES, AND MY LIFE IN COLD BLOOD
OCTOBER 18, DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR THE VICTIMS OF KLEPTOCRATIC REGIMES
EU practices double standards in civil rights. It’s freakish for EU to interfere in the civil rights of foreigners, but condone the abuse of my civil rights, a citizen of EU! EU should get its own house in order and quit lecturing others.
It’s been now three years since the freakish Greek government stole my life, my computer, and my files. Nobody cares, nobody gives a damn! I have done absolutely nothing, and I am being persecuted by the Greek government without any reason. This is against all rules of civil society and treaties that Greece has signed.
On October 18, 2010, a gang of six brutal policemen of the violent Greek Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) broke into my home in Athens and stole my computer, software, files, documents, and personal data.
The policechimps locked me in jail for a night, they humiliated me with handcuffs, fingerprints, mug shots, and lies, leaked false information to the media parrots, and the fucking Greek government initiated sham ex-officio court proceedings for a stack of stupid fictitious freakish charges!
There was neither pillow nor toilet facility in my jail cell. I had to urinate in a bottle! I, a 68 years old with high blood pressure, was not allowed to keep my hypertension pills with me. There was neither toilet paper nor soap in the whole CCU jail.
GREECE, A FAILED STATE, THE BLACK SHEEP OF FOURTH REICH, THE PARIAH OF OCCIDENT, ENEMY OF BLOGOSPHERE
Ex-officio law suit, autepageltos αυτεπαγγελτος, the most dreadful word in justice, means the state sues somebody without involvement of the accuser. This terrible scheme has been used by the freakish Greek government to persecute me. Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, sued me, and she wouldn’t show up in court, because the state took over her position!
At the ex-officio law suit, the accuser just hits and runs! This hit-and-run justice is the most disgusting kangaroo justice on Earth. In all civilized nations, the accused is in a position to face his accuser eyeball to eyeball, but not in Greece, a failed state. The fucking accuser slings false accusations against you, the freakish state takes over, the accuser disappears from the kangaroo court, and the trial is postponed infinite times! venitis@gmail.com, http://themostsearched.blogspot.com
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