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Hearings on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan are held in Washington. The debates were organized by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and were called "The suppression of independent voices in Azerbaijan." The attendees of the debates shared a view that the US will continue supporting the independent voices in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani news agency "Turan" reports.

As noted in the article, the attendees of the hearing focused on the arrests, facts of the persecution of social activists and the media, the closure of the western NGOs working in the country.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Thomas Melia noted that in order to enhance Azerbaijan’s partnership with the US, the official Baku should be tolerant of independent voices. "It is vital that the rights of citizens of the country were recognized for implementation of their fundamental freedoms - freedom of expression and association," noted Melia.

Regarding the situation about the closure of the Radio "Azadlig", Melia noted that Washington did not stop supporting the radio station and will do so "as long as it will be possible."

Another speaker, professor at Baku State University Altai Geyushev, noted that all these processes took place at the background of Azerbaijan's chairmanship at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. "The absence of the rule of law opens the way for the religious radicals and this is the most dangerous thing," he believes.

According to "Turan", Miriam Lansky, the head of projects in Russia and Eurasia NED said that Azerbaijan fabricates the criminal charges in order to put the journalists, human rights activists and lawyers in jail. "There are about 100 political prisoners and their number still grows, and the country is standing in the same line with Uzbekistan in terms of freedoms. If you look at the data of Freedom House in Azerbaijan at the end of the 90s, the country was on a par with Georgia and Armenia, but Azerbaijan at present is rolling down," she summed up.

As stated in the article, the head of the Azerbaijani service of "Radio Liberty" Kanan Aliyev noted that the Azerbaijani authorities have systematically persecuted international media and NGOs, trying to take full control of the country's media. "In recent years, the government of Azerbaijan has actually kicked out of the country shuch American organizations like IREX, NDI, the Peace Corps," he noted.

In its turn, the Azerbaijani news portal "Haqqin.az", referring to the article of "Radio Liberty", also quoted Kanan Aliyev saying that the activities of radio stations in Azerbaijan have actually stopped, the office is closed, and bank accounts are seized. "The pressure on us is not an ordinary case. This is a systemic and coordinated operation, which has nothing to do with the activities of individual NGOs,” he stressed.