Baku rights defenders and reporters state suppression of civil activism in NAR

The absence in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR) of civil activism and violations of human rights have been stated by rights defenders and journalists from Baku, who visited the NAR on September 12. They spoke about it on September 13 at the press conference held in the Azerbaijani capital at the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS).

"During the trip we were openly shadowed and harassed," said Mekhman Aliev, a member of the delegation and director of the Information Agency (IA) "Turan". At the same time, he refuted some of the Baku media that the delegation was deported from the NAR. From the very beginning, it was a pre-planned one-day visit.

In the morning, the delegation attended the trial in the Sharur District, where Khyakimeldostu Mekhtiev, the regional correspondent of the IRFS accused of stealing electricity, was the defendant.

Although the delegation from Baku was allowed to be present in the courtroom, its members were carefully searched and deprived of their handbags, cell phones, and video and photo cameras, said the "Turan" director.

The regional Ministry of National Security (MNS) and the Ombudsperson's Office refused to meet the delegation.

The MNS motivated the decision by the fact that some media wrote "untruth" about Vasif Talybov, the head of the NAR's Parliament. The Ombudsperson's Office refused to accept the delegation under the pretext that its members had failed to fix the appointment in advance.

Aziz Einalov, the head of the Public Safety Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the NAR, demanded, referring to some complaint from the Ombudsperson's Office, that the delegation should leave Nakhichevan. This requirement was ignored; and the delegation went to Mekhtiev's house in the village of Djalil in the Sharur District.

After presenting information about the trip, the members of the delegation shared their impressions.

"The NAR ignores human rights; and people do not feel free there. They are afraid to raise problems; and return faith to people, journalists and rights defenders should often go there," said Saida Godjamanly, the head of the Bureau of Human Rights and Rule of Law.

"The MPs, elected from the region, should meet the population more often and to raise their concerns at the National Assembly and before the Government. People complain even about post offices' refusals to accept telegrams with their complaints. Courts also refuse to consider complaints," said Anar Mamedli, the coordinator of the Alliance in Defence of Political Freedoms.

The members of the delegation noted the rudeness and incompetence of local state officials.

"When talking to us, bureaucrats kept repeating their memorized standard phrases and behaved defiantly rude. If they treat reporters and rights defenders in this way, we can imagine how they behave with ordinary citizens," said Avez Zeinally, the editor of the newspaper "Khural".

Novella Djafaraoglu, the head of the Society for Women's Rights named after Dilyara Alieva, has stated that the NAR is taking steps to improvement and protection of the environment and historical monuments; however, all this is achieved through suppressing citizens' rights and by forcing them to participate in regular subbotniks.

The civil society activists were unanimous in the necessity to make monthly visits to the NAR in order to attract attention of the public and authorities of Azerbaijan to the problems of human rights in the autonomous republic.

So far, the authorities of Azerbaijan and the NAR have made no comments on the visit of the delegation of civil society activists to Nakhichevan.