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As stated in the article, Azerbaijan has fallen in all international rankings in press freedom in the last decade. On May 3, the organization "Reporters without Borders" released a report where President Ilham Aliyev was listed among the worst predators of press. The report noted that Aliyev escaped West censorship because of the oil and gas resources.

The author notes that Aliyev is not the only Azerbaijani politician that is included in the list. Vasif Talybov, the chairman of the Supreme Council of Nakhchivan autonomy of Azerbaijan is there too.

Sultanova also recalls the campaign of harassment against Khadija Ismailova, journalist who wrote about highest level corruption in Azerbaijan.

"On May 2, the state institutions celebrated World Press Freedom Day. The conference was attended by representatives of the Press Council, the National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) and the Presidential Fund for Media Development in Azerbaijan. At the event, Ali Hasanov, the representative of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, denied all the criticism of the situation in the media,” the article says.

And the director of the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety Emin Huseynov said that the situation of freedom of press in the country has deteriorated significantly during the last year, apparently because of the upcoming presidential election. "It seems that in an election year the media will not be able to operate freely. The country is becoming more and more authoritarian," he said.

The U.S. State Department report strongly criticized Azerbaijan for violation of human rights, including freedom of speech and the press. According to international human rights organization “Committee to Protect Journalists” (CPJ), there are at least 6 journalists are in prison in Azerbaijan, as a result of which this republic is now among the top ten countries in the world by the number of arrests of the press workers.