The spring that never blossomed: Freedoms supressed in Aberbaijan

Peaceful protest has effectively been criminalized by banning demonstrations and imprisoning those who organize and take part in them. Police use excessive force to break up peaceful, but officially unsanctioned demonstrations. Threats and intimidation against human rights defenders have been used together with legislative and administrative means to shut down and deny registration to civil society groups working on democracy and human rights.

Journalists have been beaten, ill-treated and abducted, while the range of independent media outlets has been curbed through laws banning foreign broadcasters from national airwaves. New routes for exercising the right to freedom of expression, such as the internet and social media, have also come under siege. Bloggers and youth activists have been harassed and imprisoned on trumped-up charges. The government is currently considering ways to control and monitor internet use.

However, frustration with these increasingly tight controls is growing. Over a series of protests, hundreds of people gathered in the streets in March and April this year demanding democratic reform and greater respect for human rights. Inspired by their counterparts in Egypt and Tunisia, youth and opposition activists in Azerbaijan used social media tools to reach wider audiences, calling for organized cycles of protests. The authorities of Azerbaijan have suppressed these nascent signs of popular protest at their roots with a new wave of repression and intimidation. Well-publicized arrests, ill-treatment and prosecution of youth and political activists, and tight control on domestic and international media, has tightened the screws on the fledgling protest movement – and sent out a strong message to those on the sidelines who might have thought of joining it.