Baku slams U.S. human rights report on Azerbaijan as “biased”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Baku slammed the U.S. State department 2013 Human Rights Report on Azerbaijan as “biased and failing to reflect the reality.” “We refuse to accept the report issued by the state department, which failed to reflect current factors of Azerbaijani reality,” deputy head of presidential administration Novruz Mammadv noted, adding that “biased attitude of the U.S. can also be observed in the country’s Karabakh related policies.” As he noted, Azerbaijan is already used to Washington’s “biased stance.” A global report released by the U.S. reflected human rights practices in Azerbaijan, according to APA.

“The most significant human rights problems in Azerbaijan during the year were restrictions on freedoms of expression, assembly, and association, including intimidation, arrest, and use of force against journalists and human rights and democracy activists, flaws in the conduct of the October 9 presidential election.

Amendments adopted during the year further restricted NGO financing. Other human rights problems included restrictions on the religious freedom of some unregistered Muslim and Christian groups, continued official impediments to the registration of human rights NGOs.

Unfair administration of justice, including increased reports of arbitrary arrest and detention, politically motivated imprisonment, lack of due process, executive influence over the judiciary, and lengthy pretrial detention for individuals perceived as a threat by government officials, while crimes against such individuals or their family members went unpunished.

Allegations of widespread corruption at all levels continued, although the presidential administration took significant steps to decrease corruption by public service providers in Baku.

Other human rights problems reported during the year included abuse in the military that resulted in 69 noncombat deaths,” says the report.