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Azerbaijani Ruling Party Calls Report of Freedom House Preconceived

Politics Materials 30 April 2008 15:53 (UTC +04:00)
Azerbaijani Ruling Party Calls Report of Freedom House Preconceived

Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 April / Trend corr. G.Janiyev / The ruling New Azerbaijan party (NAP) called unfair the annual report of the International human right activist organization 'Freedom House' on the state of press in Azerbaijan.

"The report shows double standards towards the country by demonstrating the state of press in Azerbaijan worse than that of Armenia," Ali Ahmadov, NAP Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary, stated to journalists.

Freedom House has released its annual report in 195 countries on the state of press. As per the research, freedom of press is observed in 72 countries, but no freedom of press is observed in 64 countries and is partially free in 59 other countries.

The report said that the freedom of opinion has undergone pressure in the Asian countries and in the post-Soviet areas. No positive promotion was observed in the sphere of press in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, according to the report, has no freedom of press and takes 168th place in the list developed by Freedom of House.

Three journalists have been sentenced to different terms of imprisonment. International human rights organizations constantly demand the release of these journalists.

Another South Caucasus - Armenia is also included in the list with limited freedom of press countries. Armenia takes 144th places and Russia - 170. Georgia has partial freedom of press.

According to Ahmadov, the fact that the state of freedom of press in Armenia is worse than in Azerbaijan shows unfairness of the report.

The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

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