R.Morningstar: accusations against NDI is a delirium

The U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Richard Morningstar, denied accusations against  the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI)distributed in the Azerbaijani media. Being asked  by journalists to comment on reports of alleged lawsuit against this structure, the Ambassador recommended  to appeal to the prosecutor office.

"Accusations in different media against NDI are wrong, untrue, and nonsense. We believe that the NDI operated in Azerbaijan in accordance with the legislation," said Morningstar.

However, the ambassador said that he does not have any comment on the "final status of the  NDI in Azerbaijan."

A year ago the Azerbaijani authorities accused  the NDI  of funding opposition youth organizations in order to prepare the revolution  in  Azerbaijan. However, the official presentation of any charges have been reported.  The NDI, in turn, denied the allegations, and stated the transparency of its operations. However, the authorities did not let in Baku a representative of the  NDI, Alex Grigorevs, and began to put pressure on other U.S. NGOs and their partners in Azerbaijan. As a result of this whole policy, the authorities  prohibited local NGOs receiving  grants from American donors that virtually paralyzed democratic, independent part of civil society of the country.-16D06-