The repression of activists in Azerbaijan - the COP29 country - continues

The latest case concerns an activist of the democracy movement.He would be detained for two days and tortured.He had helped a journalist to leave the country secretly.

• From 11 to 22 November 2024, Azerbaijan will host the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.But new news of human rights violations is arriving from this Caucasus country
• The latest case concerns an activist, who reported being kidnapped, detained for two days and even tortured
• Azerbaijan is an authoritarian state, among the most corrupt countries in the world:Alone in the last twelve months there have been 25 cases of arrests or convictions of journalists and activists

FromAzerbaijan, the country that will host the Cop29, the conference on climate change, new serious news arrives human rights violations.This time the matter concerns the activist Nijat Amiraslanov of the pro-democracy Nida movement, who said he was kidnapped, detained for two days and tortured with electric shock after a former journalist whom he had helped to escape the country returned to his homeland and allegedly betrayed him.

According to reports OC Average, after being arrested for a month in 2015 and tortured himself, the former journalist left Azerbaijan secretly in 2016 thanks to the help of the activist Nijat Amiraslanov, with the aim of requesting asylum in Germany following the strong attack repression of the independent press.The suspicion is that he has now started to collaborate with the authorities, reporting former colleagues and collaborators.

Amiraslanov was allegedly forcibly taken away on June 15 a few meters from his home while he was waiting for the courier to collect a package. He told his mother he would be back in five minutes.“Someone jumped on me, put a bag over my head and arrested me,” he said Amiraslanov at the newspaper OC Media.It is not known where he was detained, and he apparently received instructions not to report the matter to the press.

Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world

As the British newspaper writes Guardian, the government ofAzerbaijan has been accused of cracking down on the press and activists just ahead of crucial UN talks in the capital Baku in November.Second Human rights watch, in the last year there have been at least 25 cases of arrests or convictions of journalists and activists, many of whom are still in prison.

Azerbaijan is in fact defined as a state authoritarian where press and civil liberties are severely restricted, and is considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranked 154th out of 180 in Corruption perceptions index drawn up by Transparency International last year.

“Authoritarian control over state institutions by ruling elites is firmly entrenched and corruption is used to sustain power and evade accountability,” reports Transparency International.This country's score reflects systemic governance deficits and lack of independent oversight, where the corruption erodes various levels of society and the state, undermining civil and political rights."

A picture that is anything but reassuring if we think that right in Azerbaijan – a country whose economy is strongly linked to gas et al petrolium, which make up 90 percent of exports – the future of global climate policies will be decided.