Authorities Still Hostile towards NGOs - Ogtay Gyulalyev

The criminal case against the human rights activist Oktay Gyulalyev was closed on October 20 after 4 years and 6 months, Gyulalyev told Turan IA, explaining this with the October 25 Astana meeting of Extracting Industry Transparency Initiative.

"Earlier, the management of this international organization put a condition before the authorities of Azerbaijan - to cease harassment of civil society and create conditions for their work, otherwise Azerbaijan will be excluded from this structure," said Gyulalyev.

Recalling that last year Azerbaijan’s status in this structure was lowered, Gyulalaev expressed regret that the authorities did not fulfill their promises and continued to suppress civil society.

"The government has only partially fulfilled the requirements of the international community. They however refused to unfreeze the bank accounts, to stop the prosecution and lift the ban on leaving the country by civil society activists," he said.

At the same time, the authorities are trying to take steps to mitigate all these limitations. However, it is too early to talk about a change of attitude towards civil society, he added.

"It will be possible to talk about changing the situation when the government cancels restrictive changes to the legislation that block the activity of independent NGOs.

In addition, the government should abandon hostility to civil society, stop calling us a "fifth column" serving the interests of hostile foreign forces, return seized property and real estate," he said. -03B-