New Fisk

Echoes of Stalinism abound in the very modern Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict

No freedom of speech in Azerbaijan

Adnan Hajizada and Emin Milli are Azeri bloggers. Last month they made a parody video [in Azeri, but with subtitles] mocking the Azeri government's policy of importing donkeys at exorbitant prices. And then things got weird:

Mr. Hajizada, 26, and his fellow activist Emin Milli, 30, were arrested last week in Baku, the capital, in an event their supporters say could signal the beginning of a crackdown on online media. Azeri authorities said the two physically attacked other men, though witnesses have challenged that account. They are awaiting trial on charges of hooliganism, which carries a sentence of one to five years in prison.

According to a motion filed by Mr. Hajizada’s lawyer, the two men were with friends at a restaurant last Wednesday, engrossed in political debate, when two strangers broke into their conversation and started a fight. Mr. Hajizada and Mr. Milli went to file a complaint about the assault, but instead an investigator opened a criminal case against them, the motion said.

This is apparently how the Azerbaijani government deals with its critics. Last year Qanimat Zahid, an opposition newspaper editor, was jailed for four years for "hooliganism" after a similar attack. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, jailed for his journalistic work. In 2006, satirist and poet Sakit Zahidov was jailed after being framed on drug charges- again as a consequence of his journalism. He was pardoned earlier this year after serving almost three years in prison. Other journalists have been harassed, intimidated, assaulted, and even murdered [PDF] by a government desperate to suppress all criticism. And now the same seems to apply to bloggers.

Let the protests begin!

The OSCE has released its preliminary report [PDF] into the Azerbaijan elections. Their conclusion? The elections were a sham and "did not meet international standards". The campaign was marred by pervasive media bias in favour of the ruling party, as well as

interference of local authorities, disproportionate use of force to thwart rallies, arbitrary detentions, restrictive interpretations of campaign provisions, unbalanced composition of election commissions and the failure of those commissions to effectively address a number of issues.

And on the day itself, they observed

attempts to influence voter choices, unauthorized persons interfering in, or directing, the process, as well as cases of ballot stuffing.

As well as many a breakdown in procedures designed to prevent multiple voting. The count was marred by deliberate tampering with the results and failure to meet basic standards in 43% of polling places observed. In short, the election was fixed - though not very well, given that even after all that, the ruling party won only a bare majority.

Let the protests begin!

Another sham election?

Azerbaijan went to the polls today, and while early results show the ruling party winning by a comfortable margin, there are worries that this is another sham election. In the leadup to the poll, opposition parties were harassed by police, and several opposition leaders were detained, while Human Rights Watch accused the Azeri government of using systematic intimidation and violence in an effort to influence the result. But there are also concerns about the conduct of the election itself: an independent exit poll showed the government failing to win a majority, one of the largest opposition parties reported stuffed ballot boxes, multiple voting, and intimidation on election day, and early word from the OSCE is that the elections "did not look good". The OSCE will be presenting their report tomorrow, and if it accuses the government of fraud, there will almost certainly be protests. Given that the government has declared that they will not allow a Ukraine-style people's revolution, that could be a recipe for trouble...