Last May, Azerbaijan secured the right to host this year’s Eurovision song contest thanks to its winning entry “Running Scared”. Only a few months earlier, this is, quite literally, what hundreds of peaceful protesters were doing in downtown Baku, as police violently sought to silence them, reads the statement issued by Amnesty International.
In a statement dedicated to Eurovision 2012 in the context of violence against journalists and opposition activists, the organization mentions that “multi-million dollar PR campaign is seeking to portray the country as modern and progressive.”
“But there is another story. 20 years of independence, economic prosperity and relative stability have failed to translate into greater fundamental freedoms for its citizens, while the consolidation of authoritarian rule under President Aliyev has been largely ignored by the outside world over the last decade,” the statement reads.
“While Eurovision will offer an opulent stage for voices from across Europe, at home few critical voices are tolerated. Self-censorship has increased. Criticism of the President and leading government figures is frequently punished - whether it is voiced through politics, journalism, satire, activism, education, or even social networking websites. This crackdown on dissenting opinion is being facilitated by a muted response from members of the international community, whose eyes would appear to be more firmly fixed on petro-dollars and energy security than the rights of ordinary Azeris.
Peaceful anti-government protest has effectively been criminalized by banning demonstrations and imprisoning those who organize and take part in them. Police use excessive force to break up peaceful, but officially unsanctioned demonstrations. Threats and intimidation against human rights defenders have been used together with legislative and administrative means to shut down and deny registration to civil society groups working on democracy and human rights.
Journalists have been beaten, ill-treated and abducted, while the range of independent media outlets has been curbed through laws banning foreign broadcasters from national airwaves.
New methods of exercising the right to freedom of expression, such as the internet and social media, are also under siege. Bloggers and youth activists have been harassed and imprisoned on trumped-up charges. The government is currently considering ways to control and monitor internet use.
As frustration with these increasingly tight controls grew, hundreds of people gathered in the streets in March and April 2011 demanding democratic reform and greater respect for human rights.
The authorities of Azerbaijan suppressed these nascent signs of popular protest with a new wave of repression and intimidation. Following the protests, 14 people were convicted for organizing and/or participating in the anti-government rallies. The authorities also used
trumped up charges to arrest and imprison three activists; two young members of the opposition and a human rights defender.
Youth activist Jabbar Savalan was released on 26 December 2011 after an international campaign on his behalf, but Amnesty International still counts 16 prisoners of conscience who remain behind bars following the spring protests.”
