Your trusted source

The European Games are part of the president Aliyev's grand plan to cover up the theft of the country’s riches and the suppression of human rights in Azerbaijan, Anshel Pfeffer writes for the Israeli outlet Haaretz.

In her article ''The European Games of shame'' she points that Azerbaijan likes to put on a good show for visitors, presenting itself as an advanced, Western nation. ''Those who try to lift the curtain are suppressed, imprisoned and hounded into exile. One case that has received some international attention is that of investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe who ran a series of exposes on the corruption of the Aliyev circle,'' Pfeffer writes. Cameras were installed in Ismayilova's apartment and attempts were made to blackmail her with intimate photographs. When she refused to back off, the images were posted on the Internet. Ismayilova was arrested on trumped-up charges in December, the author points. 

Pfeffer highlights that Ismayilova is just one of dozens of journalists, bloggers, lawyers and human rights activists who are in jail in Azerbaijan. ''Human-rights activist Rasul Jafarov, who defended other activists, was imprisoned last August. One of his last campaigns before his arrest was Sports for Rights, which sought to use the European Games to draw attention Azerbaijan’s human-rights record,'' according to her. 

Jafarov’s appeal had been scheduled for Friday, the day the European Games open. A few days ago it was hastily rescheduled, presumably after the authorities realized that it wouldn’t be great for Azerbaijan’s image to hold the hearing when so many foreign reporters are in the country, Pfeffer points. 

''Bizarrely, at a time when the government is eager to have the games receive maximum coverage, it is banning journalists from reporting on them,'' she stresses. 

A blow to the prestige of the European Games came early this week when Netherlands, which was scheduled to host the 2019 edition, notified the EOC that it had decided to pass on the opportunity. It is beginning to look as if Baku 2015 could well be the first and last European Games, according to the author. 

''The media representatives and the Olympic bureaucrats will go back home and the Azeri people will be left to pay the price,'' Pfeffer writes.

On 12-28 June, Baku is hosting the first European Games under the auspices of the European Olympic Committee. According to media estimates, the Games will cost the Azerbaijani population $10 billion. However, they have become a serious headache for the locals with numerous bans and demolition of property. The preparatory works for the Games are accompanied by crackdowns and brutal repressions against dissent.

Related:

Human rights defenders hold protests in front of Azerbaijani Embassies in different countries