Deputy Director ‘‘HRW’’ Europe and Asia: ‘‘Azerbaijani authorities refer to criticism primitively and narrow-mindedly’’
Rachel Denber, Human Rights Watch's Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division, commented in an interview given to “Turan” on critics of the official Baku which blame the organization in being “biased and prejudiced.”
"It was strange to hear all these allegations and to realize that the Azerbaijani authorities refer to criticism so primitively and narrow-mindedly. Why should the call to improve the state of human rights be regarded as support for the enemies?" she said.
Agency reminds that the Azerbaijani government has expressed its dissatisfaction with the last report of the organization. The report speaks about the suppression of civil society by the authorities of Azerbaijan on the eve of the presidential election.
Representatives of official Baku accused “HRW” of cooperation with the enemies of Azerbaijan and the Armenian lobby.
“Our report was on a crackdown on fundamental rights--freedom of expression, association, and assembly--that's been under way for the past 18 months. It's a crackdown that started well over a year ago but intensified as the election drew nearer,” she noted.
When asked how the country should improve its human rights record now, she answered, the first step should be for the government to acknowledge that many of the activists whose cases were very carefully detailed in our report were arrested on flimsy grounds and to release them.
According to her, in this way the government of Azerbaijan “will show that it is serious about investigating attacks and threats against investigative journalists,” she added.
In early September, “Human Rights Watch” released another report on Azerbaijan, which read that In the run-up to the presidential elections, the Azerbaijani authorities deliberately carry out the strategy of arbitrary restriction of dissent.
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