Khadija Ismailova: I"m ready for anything

A reporter of the "Azadlig" radio, Khadija Ismaylova commented on the ban on her leaving the country in her interview with "Voice of America." Being asked about this ban she said that she was not informed about any restrictions , and did not  give a written undertaking not to leave a place, and therefore  she does not know the reason.

The journalist’s inquiry to the prosecutor's office went unanswered, but the spokesman for the Prosecutor General's Office told the media that Ismaylova was a witness in  a case, and her participation is necessary for the investigation.

"This is totally illegal, because first I was to give a written undertaking not to leave a place, and I must  be officially told   about   I was  banned  to leaving the country,"  said Ismaylova.

"Three days passed after  the statements by the prosecutor's office, but I am not summoned to investigations. It turns out that they have decided not to let me go abroad, " she said.

Ismaylova believes  that the true reason for the ban  is her activities in the event of the OSCE in Warsaw and in the framework of the PACE session in Strasbourg,  considering the questions of gross violations of human rights in Azerbaijan.

If the  criminal penalties for libel and defamation  against Elman Hasanov is real?  Ismaylova  said that no evidence of her guilt in court was presented.

"In fact, the court, the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of National Security are collecting" evidence ", which do not exist. But I'm ready for anything, let they  arrest me. I have been  previously warned that  they will arrest me on my return from abroad, but I am not afraid. "

" They should  not think that by such steps they can intimidate me. Let them torture or kill me.  I have already passed through the hardest things," she said.

Answering  the question what  she thinks about the authorities' plans to introduce a ban on  getting projects  by local  NGOs from foreign donors, she said that that when the country's officials claim that Azerbaijan does not need foreign donors, they express  their words incorrectly.

"When they say "Azerbaijan " they mean  the ruling family. They say so because the authorities consider this country their property,  which they have privatized. However, Azerbaijan does not mean only them.  The country consists of people which suffer from corruption and lawlessness.

If the authorities would be able to and want to make reforms, they would have long held them. Then there would not be need in r foreign donors. However, all the efforts of the authorities   are aimed against  reforms.

So when they talk about the internal capabilities, they use  these capabilities to prevent the local media  from  investigating corruption.

The entire state apparatus  is trying to silence  journalists, neutralize civil society, so that no one dared to talk about corruption or  the  change of the situation. Depriving NGOs and civil society  of  foreign aid, they want to achieve just that.

In this case, the authorities should openly declare that they do not want to be part of Europe, and want to follow the way of North Korea.

Let the author of these changes, Ali Huseynli, openly say that we will live on the instructions of Kim Il Sung," said Khadija Ismaylova. -03В-