Treason and repression

From the International Herald Tribune:

Two members of an ethnic minority centered near Azerbaijan's border with Iran went on trial Thursday on treason charges, the latest case reflecting concerns of Iranian influence in the former Soviet republic.

The article goes on to claim that the arrest reflects "a tug-of-war for influence between the secular, democratic West and Iran, its large southern neighbor," which is fine as far as it goes. Unfortunately, it doesn't go very far.

This country is fraught with ethnic tension -- obviously any Armenians in the country are suspect, but it goes much deeper than that. As recently as six months ago in a village I visited, a Christian church was pulled down by the police, with no particular reason given. The members of that parish must now make a trip of about an hour and a half, to an entirely different region, to get to the nearest church. And that's a bigger trip than it sounds, as most families don't have cars, and must rely on the local marshrutkas, which make few trips. They could, of course, take taxis, but the drive is terribly expensive, and increasingly so, as inflation continues to hit the poor hard.

What's more, the treason charge stems from the publication of a newspaper:

The trial in Azerbaijan's Grave Crimes Court in the capital, Baku, stems from accusations that the newspaper Talysh Voice, whose name comes from the Talysh ethnic group, preached separatism and ethnic bias and insulted members of other groups including majority Azeris.

Talysh Voice editor Novruzali Mammadov and another top official at the newspaper, Elman Guliyev, were arrested in February and are being tried behind closed doors.

The newspaper business is a most dangerous game here, and the government is more than happy to crack down. The law imposes harsh punishment for anyone who "insults" anything anywhere near related to the government.

The government does seem to be vaguely aware of its credibility problem on the issue, recently releasing one jailed journalist. But the conditions are put in such a way that everything sounds friendly, but only to ears that don't know how to hear:

"The judge told me that this decision will not affect my journalism activities in the region," Nasibov said. "He said, ’This year is a probation period for you, and during this time, you can’t distribute false information or be involved in any illegal or inflammatory activity. So you should work in a constructive and objective way. If you do that, you shouldn’t have any problems." [emphasis added]

Given that simply reporting the facts in this country can often be inflammatory, the government may as well have kept him in prison.

Deterioration

The feeling among Azerbaijan watchers, from Embassy staff to aid workers in the most remote regions, is that there has been a tangible backsliding. An article in the Guardian is worth excerpting at length:

According to Idrak Abbasov of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, organisations including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) say Zahidov was the victim of a staged provocation, part of an assault on free speech and press freedom. The US state department agrees. This month it called on the Baku government to "comply with its stated commitments to respect the rule of law and support the development of independent media".
But overall, outside criticism has been muted - and ignored by Aliyev. Azerbaijan's importance to Washington and the EU as a producer and conduit of Caspian oil and gas, as a Nato-friendly ally bordering Iran, and as a foil to Russia overshadows human rights and democracy concerns.

The West is, indeed, sadly complicit in the backslide on democracy -- Azerbaijan seems to strategically important to push ideals upon, and that's sad.

There's much more at the link, so please do go "read the whole thing," as they say.

More on terrorism

Even as more suspects in the recently-foiled attacks are being rounded up, terrorism is taking a heavy toll on Azerbaijan:

On October 30, Azerbaijan’s Grave Crimes Court convicted Fatullayev, the outspoken editor-in-chief of the independent Realni Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan newspapers, for terrorism, inciting ethnic hatred, and tax evasion. The conviction is a culmination of a concerted effort by the Azerbaijani authorities to silence Fatuallyev and his newspapers.

“Fatullayev’s prosecution was politically motivated, and his conviction should be quashed immediately and he should be released,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The steady rise of politically motivated criminal charges, as well as violent attacks against journalists, is obviously aimed at silencing critical voices in Azerbaijan.”
...
Fatullayev is the eighth journalist in Azerbaijan imprisoned for defamation and other criminal charges. Human Rights Watch has also documented numerous cases of violence and threats of violence against opposition and independent journalists in the country.