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The Eurovision Song Contest is the most-watched non-sporting competition in the world. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Azerbaijan's government sees the contest as a ticket of admission to the community of nations. Nor that President Ilham Aliyev has spent around $134M on a concert hall, which will host the event, says the popular British daily newspaper “The Independent.”

“The Independent” notes that behind the preposterous glitz stands an oppressive, oil-rich regime where a corrupt ruling elite enjoys wealth and those who dare to protest are routinely arrested and beaten.

The statistics are grim. Amnesty International records at least 12 prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijani jails and Azerbaijan comes near the bottom of the press-freedom index, “The Independent” notes.

Nothing has changed in the run-up to Eurovision. Just this week, more people were held during a pro-democracy protest. It will take more than a song competition to distract attention from the manifest inhumanity of the Azerbaijani regime, the publication says.