Azerbaijani democrats state absence of conditions for free elections

The democratic forces of Azerbaijan believe that the country has no conditions for free elections. This was stated today during the Civil Forum held in the Baku-based Hotel "Europe" under the motto "On Situation with Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Azerbaijan before Presidential Election".

The Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) was the organizer of the Forum. The event was supported by the American Foundation for Democracy (NED) and the British Embassy to Baku. The participants of the Forum were leaders of the country's NGOs dealing with the issues of democracy and human rights, leaders of political parties, and editors of some mass media.

Leila Yunus, Director of the IPD, has informed that invitations had been also sent to MPs, officials of the Ministry of Justice and Supreme Court, but they ignored the event.

The Forum has discussed the issues of ensuring citizens' electoral rights by the courts during the pre-election period, the freedom of assemblies and the status of the electoral legislation.

Intigam Aliev, head of the Society of Legal Enlightenment, has stated that the situation in the courts remains complicated; they are still highly dependent on the executive power. As he said, the courts lack will to defend citizens' suffrage. Thus, after the previous elections, over a hundred complaints were lodged to the courts, and none was ever satisfied.

At the same time, Mr Aliev has treated as positive the citizens' and media's persistence in defending their rights at the European Court for Human Rights. After the latest parliamentary elections, the Strasbourg Court has accepted 40 complaints to consideration, he said.