”I would like to draw the attention of our Azerbaijani colleagues making statements abut Armenia that soon elections will be held also in Azerbaijan. We’ll remind that the previous elections in Azerbaijan were harshly criticized,” head of the observation mission, former chairman of the PACE Lord Russell-Johnston said. He was supported by the PACE reporter on Armenia Ezhi Yaskerni. ”It’s a pity that representatives of countries that have not achieved a democratic progress start to criticize Armenia,” he noted.
Recently the US Department of State publicized an important document ”About the practice of human rights in the world countries in 2002”, where the characteristics of Azerbaijan are not positive. The section dedicated to Azerbaijan reads that the elections held there in 2002 were conducted with serious mass violations. The report stresses that all the power is bent in Heydar Aliyev’s will. ”The courts are being controlled by the executive structures. They are corrupted and ineffective,” the document reads. The authors of the report note that there are numerous cases of violations of human rights by the special services. Besides, the situation with imprisoned persons is also very unfavorable.
Continuing the subject of restrictions of civil liberties in Azerbaijan, the analysts of the Department of State say the government refuses to register the oppositional political parties and pursues the human rights protectors and heads of some NGOs. The report notes that the officials make a strong pressure on mass media.
Such a strict assessment given by the US Department of State to Heydar Aliyev’s regime was unexpected for Azerbaijan. The Baku authorities were thinking that by supporting the United States in the war against Saddam, they have secured their indulgence. However, the Director of the Azerbaijani Institute of Peace and Democracy, Leyla Yunus said recently: ”Expectations that because of Azerbaijan’s participation in the anti-Iraqi coalition Washington will shut its eyes to the falsifications of the elections in the country, were not justified”.
