IRFS: human rights violations are widespread in NAR

The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR) sees widespread human rights violations; most often, they are committed by power agents. This is stated in the report on the outcomes of monitoring of the human rights situation and the state with media, which was conducted during the period from September 2010 to May 2011 in the NAR, located in Azerbaijan, by regional correspondents of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS).

As noted by Elman Abbasov, a regional correspondent of the IRFS, facts of physical pressure of the police on citizens are widespread in the NAR. "The reason is in citizens' refusal to pay bribes," said Abbasov.

Idrak Abbasov, an employee of the Baku office of the IRFS, drew attention to the facts of "long, for many days detention of citizens by the police without any legal grounds."

Another problem in the NAR is forcing the workers from various institutions to participate in improvement works under the pretext of the so-called "subbotniks" and "voskresniks".

Besides, any political activities are restricted in the NAR; and oppositional parties are even deprived of offices, except for the "Umid" (Hope) Party.

Khakimeldostu Mekhtiev, another regional correspondent of the IRFS, spoke about violations of property rights of Sadarak villagers.

According to E. Abbasov, many problems arise from citizens' ignorance of their rights, and from government officials' ignorance of the law.

Other problems of the NAR are a deficit of lawyers and a complete absence of independent advocates. The NAR courts rule in favour of the authorities or those close to them, he added.

At the same time E. Abbasov saw a positive trend that in recent years those citizens who make the facts of physical pressure on them public after a while were left alone. Mr Abbasov explained this by the increased attention of international organizations and the comments of official structures in Baku.

With regard to monitoring of regional media, namely, 2 TV channels, one radio station and one newspaper, they are owned by the State and reflect only the position of the authorities.

Malakhat Nasibova, a human rights activist from the NAR, a laureate of the "Rafto" International Premium, said, when speaking at the Freedom Forum in Oslo on May 11, that the NAR "plays the role of a training ground or laboratory, where the authorities test and master the methods of repressions and then spread them throughout the country."

It was impossible to get any comments in the power structures of the NAR; where bureaucrats would not talk to independent journalists from Baku.

Earlier, the NAR authorities and its representative office in Baku had repeatedly rejected the criticism about the situation in the autonomy with human rights and democracy, calling the work of several local human rights activists as "biased and hostile."

The state bodies of Azerbaijan also refrain from comments on the situation in the NAR, referring to the fact that the NAR has its own bodies of power.