The amendments to the laws "On Grants", "Freedom of Religion" and "Non-governmental Organizations (public associations and foundations)" intensify repression against civil society, said Samir Isayev, the head of the public association "Legal Consciousness" in his interview with "Objective TV".
Practice shows that unwanted NGOs , by any means, will be penalized for large amounts, their property will be confiscated, and leadership (with the stigma of the Armenian lobby agents) is subject to "public criticism." An example of these methods is the case of human rights defender Ilham Amiraslanov, when a service weapon was planted in his house, the case of the journalist Ganimat Zakhidov, who was jailed for perjury by hooliganism and many others.
This week in Khachmaz region, the police arrested two activists (girl and boy), conducting regional training for potential participants in the presidential election. If to believe the press service of the Interior Ministry, they beat up two police officers. In a normal country, professionally unfit policemen are immediately fired; normal country will not show their bruised faces, but Azerbaijan is not ashamed to make such shows, said the lawyer.
Currently NGOs are accountable on 20 types of documents to the Ministry of Finance, the State Statistics Committee, Ministry of Taxes, and all the papers have all the data on grants and donors. Breaches of financial reporting by NGOs are only 1.5% of all violations, and therefore there was no need to tighten legislation.
Thus, in 2010 the Ministry of Justice submitted 577 contracts on getting grants, in 2011 - 887, in 2012 - 1054. Non-governmental organizations are the most responsible, competent and legally part of society, and for 20 years of operation a culture of reporting has been formed in this sphere. So, there was any objective reason to tighten legislation.
The initiative of the MP, Ganizade, was groundless and is the fruit of imagination of a group of people - to justify it no studies or surveys were conducted. Author's arguments are absurd - in Azerbaijan grant agreements are concluded with EU Funds, the USA and other leading Western countries. It is clear that the fight against money laundering and fighting terrorism is much more honest than it does the official Baku. Not any local non-governmental organization works with countries whose reputation is questionable.
According to activists of civil society, the government understands that recent unrests, (protests in Guba and Ismayilli regions, in the “Bina” shopping center, outside the Ministry of Education, etc.) have not been provoked by political parties. It is natural resentment, which intensify with the participation of civil society activists and social networks. Therefore, the power of a repressive mechanism is turned not against the political, but against the civil opposition. --17D—
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