Financial Times: The biggest surprise is that Azerbaijan remains a
member of the Council of Europe
13:44 23/05/2012 » Politics
Journalists, bloggers, a wide range of political activists, and
musicians and artists too, continue to be intimidated, censored,
imprisoned and even violently attacked in Azerbaijan, says Kirsty
Hughes, Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, in her letter,
published by the international business newspaper `Financial Times’.
`The biggest surprise, given Azerbaijan’s record, is not perhaps that
it has been allowed to host Eurovision but that it remains a member of
the Council of Europe in the face of such attacks on free speech and
its lamentable failings in establishing any genuine semblance of
democracy,’ it is said in the letter.
The UK – heading into the London Olympics – can be more confident it
can withstand a spotlight on its own democracy and rights record. But
Prime Minister David Cameron must think twice before welcoming the
heads of state of such rights-abusing countries as Azerbaijan, Bahrain
and Ukraine, notes Kirsty Hughes in her letter.
Source: Panorama.am