THE INDEPENDENT: AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES USE EUROVISION TO DEFLECT CRITICISM FROM THE COUNTRY'S APPALLING HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

Ahead of Eurovision Song Contest in Baky rights activists say that the government of Azerbaijan, led by the authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev, is using the contest to deflect criticism from the country's appalling human rights record, says the well-known British newspaper "The Independent." The article notes that Azerbaijani journalist of and reporter for "Radio Liberty" Khadija Ismayilova knows all about what happens if you get on the wrong side of President Aliyev. She has uncovered several corruption scandals linked to Aliyev clan, including a report released last week providing evidence that Aliyev's milieu has benefited financially from the construction of the Eurovision stadium, using a number of shell companies and opaque schemes. Last month, as she was researching the story, she received a letter with stills from an intimate video in which she was an unwitting participant - someone had broken into her house and installed a hidden camera in the bedroom. "It warned me that if I didn't stop my investigations, they would publicise the video. They were calculating on me being ashamed and going quiet. But they miscalculated," says Khadija Ismayilova. Instead of acquiescing to the blackmail, she went public with it, and vowed to continue uncovering corruption. The video was published online, and government-backed newspapers wrote stories attacking her and her "loose morals." Khadija Ismayilova is not the only one to suffer in the cause of Eurovision, the British publication notes. For many of the residents of the area around the site of Crystal Hall, the Eurovision venue, the contest has ruined their lives. According to Zohrab Ismayil, who has authored a report on forced evictions in Baku, 281 families have been kicked out of their homes to make way for construction directly linked to Eurovision, and the government paid them compensation at several times below market rate. "They managed to spend more than $700 million on construction for the event, but couldn't find the money to pay proper compensation to people who were kicked out of their homes onto the street," Ismayil says. The forced evictions are not just related to Eurovision, with an estimated 4000 houses demolished in Baku alone over the past three years because of new construction. Journalist Idrak Abbasov, who has attempted to publicise demolitions in his village of Sulutepe just outside Baku, last month was given a savage beating by security officers from the state oil company when he attempted to video them knocking down houses. Abbasov is now out of hospital, but his broken ribs mean he is still unable to walk. He has also lost sight in one eye after the attack, "The Independent" says. "They are not giving people any compensation at all, simply telling them they have built houses illegally on land belonging to the state oil company," says Mr Abbasov. "They were attacking houses with bulldozers that still had people's belongings in them. People were screaming and shouting, and I was filming it," Abbasov says. Security guards attacked him and continued to beat him for 15 minutes while he was unconscious, say witnesses. "It is pretty clear that their goal was to kill me," he says. Previously, Mr. Abbasov's father was assaulted and put in hospital, stones have been thrown at his house and car, and his six-year-old son was run over in suspicious circumstances. Nobody has been charged with any of the attacks, notes the publication. In his turn, Rasul Cafarov, a pro-democracy activist who runs Sing for Democracy, says that the government is spending huge sums of money to show Europe that people in Azerbaijan are happy. "Our message is clear: please don't close your eyes to the negatives. Try to meet with the family members of political prisoners, opposition members, and people who have been forcibly evicted from their homes," he says, adding that some of the contestants have promised support and he hopes that the government of Azerbaijan will be given a "nasty surprise" from the stage. There is no danger that the properties of Baku's ruling class will be bulldozed, like the homes of so many of their citizens have been, writes "The Independent," however, Idrak Abbasov says that a fear of losing their own property abroad could be a catalyst for the Azerbaijani government to be fairer with ordinary people. "If there was real pressure from the West at events like Eurovision, then of course the ruling clan would get scared. If there was a threat that all their millions and all their villas and properties in Europe could be taken away from them, they would think again," says Abbasov. Khadija Ismayilova notes that it's a joke to have Eurovision in a country with a rights record like Azerbaijan's. "It would be really great to hear some kind of message from the stage from some of the contestants, to remind the regime here that Europe is a set of values, not just a song contest," she says.

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