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Azerbaijan refused to issue a visa to the Austrian journalist, columnist of the “Die Presse” Jutta Bauer, who accompanied the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Sebastian Kurtz during his visit to the South Caucasus. She was able to get a visa only to Armenia and Georgia, writes the Austrian newspaper “Tiroler Tageszeitung”.

According to Bauer, the failure of the Embassy to issue her a visa is in the fact that she had angered the Azerbaijani authorities by her criticism.

According to the Austrian Press Agency, the journalist’s problem was not resolved despite the intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria. "The decision to grant a visa to the journalist depends solely on the Azerbaijani side," said the representative of the Ministry of Austrian Press Agency.

The publication reads that it is necessary to raise the issue of press freedom in the context of the freedom of speech in Azerbaijan.

As it is stated in the article, the Azerbaijani authorities are being criticized for limiting the civil rights, such as freedom of press and assembly, suppression of the opposition, arbitrary justice and imprisonment of political opponents. Activists complain that since last year in Azerbaijan began a new wave of repressions against human rights defenders and journalists.

Jutta Bauer said that in 2011 she visited Armenia from where subsequently traveled to Nagorno Karabakh. She had prepared a reportage on this visit, the publication notes.

As written in the article, Bauer is in the "black list" of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, which includes the names of individuals who are no longer able to visit Azerbaijan. "Azerbaijani authorities insist on an apology for visiting to Karabakh. It is obvious that it is also associated with a report," Bauer said.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan issued a statement in connection with the refusal to issue a visa to the Austrian journalist. According to the Azerbaijani news agency "APA" the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jutta Bauer had visited Karabakh in 2011, "without the permission of Azerbaijan" and that is for this reason that they have refused her in entry to the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has published a list of individuals, which became personae non gratae for Azerbaijan because of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and are denied access to the country. There are 335 people on the list at the moment of publishing. Specifically, the given list includes the member of the parliament of the Southern Wales state of Australia Gledice Berezhiklyan, Russian State Duma deputy Oleg Pokholkov, an employee at the Ukrainian magazine “Profil” Varvara Zhlutenko, reporter of “The Washington Post” in Moscow Will Englund, Austrian conductor Ernest Hoetzl, Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé, and others.