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Mark Lagon, the new president of the international human rights organization Freedom House, calls on the international community to pay attention to the dismal climate for press freedom in Azerbaijan ahead of the first-ever European Games on June 12-28. He told the Azerbaijani information agency Turan’s Washington correspondent that his organization is very concerned about the pressure on the civil society in Azerbaijan.

“We’re very concerned that western governments, not because of their desire for access to energy or cooperation on counter-terrorism and security issues, fail to identify the squeeze on civil society… The Freedom the Press report indicates similarly that media are being restricted more in Azerbaijan today than in the past,” he said.

According to the article, the report, which was released last week, called Azerbaijan a “major backslider” in media freedom. Lagon said that the world needs to be aware of the fact that too often hosting international games by the countries with fragile democracy is used for the prestige while construction of the buildings for this games do not benefit the people. 

“I’m worried about that all these cases of governments that have poor human rights records hosting international games and seeking to have prestige from it... Winter Olympics in Russia is the classic example of that; Summer Olympics in Beijing is example of that. I would add Azerbaijan also to that list,” he said.

Being an international rights group, Freedom House calls the world civil society to stand up for principles when the government is very strongly restricting the press and civil society, he added.

Besides, a delegation of representatives from Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch met with Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic Committees, at the Dublin headquarters of the Olympic Council of Ireland. The delegation discussed the dismal state of press freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan, the host of the first-ever European Games in June and one of the 10 Most Censored Countries in the world, Nina Ognianova, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, writes on the website of the organization.

In the meeting, Ognianova gave Hickey a letter, urging him to engage with the Azerbaijani government in his capacity as EOCs' top authority and ensure that all journalists and media outlets are free to cover all aspects of the European Games--including the political, economic, social, and human rights contexts. Only such coverage would adhere to the principles set by the Olympic Charter--the EOC's governing document. Ognianova also called for the release of eight imprisoned journalists, any charges to be dropped against press freedom advocate Emin Huseynov, and all laws that restrict the media and freedom of expression in Azerbaijan to be scrapped before the Games' opening ceremony on June 12.

As the letter published on CPJ website reads, an unprecedented number of local and international journalists--more than 1,300--have applied for accreditation to cover the European Games, according to news reports. But high numbers of journalist applicants will not guarantee full, unobstructed coverage. Recently Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, said that accreditation could be canceled if journalists carried out actions against the "territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Azerbaijan," news reports said. Given Azerbaijan's record of interpreting criticism of authorities and their policies as anti-state actions, Hajiyev's statement casts a shadow on the prospect of the media's ability to cover the Games freely.

“If we define coverage of the Games in accordance with the Olympic Charter, then the journalists most suited to cover them fully, freely, and independently are languishing in prison on trumped-up criminal charges,” the letter reads.

Ognianova also adds that the courts in Azerbaijan have a record of rubber-stamping state prosecutors' demands against media and civil society plaintiffs, leaving the latter with little hope for redress. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has a backlog of cases--1,404, according to its own statistics--pending against Azerbaijan by its citizens, including at least eight journalists. 

“Dear President Hickey, you have the unique opportunity to influence the Azerbaijani government and help improve press freedom conditions in the country,” Ognianova writes adding that it will be a chance to truly use the Olympic movement as a force for good.

In advance of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Chris Smith, chairman of the Helsinki Commission, also issued a statement highlighting that in several OSCE participating States, governments use increasingly sophisticated tactics to threaten and discourage professional journalism.

“This is unacceptable behavior for nations committed to the fundamental freedoms and human rights described in the Helsinki Final Act, and I call on all OSCE participating States, particularly Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, to release those journalists who remain imprisoned,” Smith declared, according to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe website. 

Related:

Azerbaijan – in Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of 10 most censored countries in world 

Azerbaijan falls by 3 points in ranking Freedom of Press 2015