Azernews.Az

US ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse has expressed disappointment that the State Department’s worldwide report on human rights for 2007 did not cite any tangible progress in the country’s record.
"We witnessed outright deterioration in a number of areas," she said in a meeting with local rights champions on Wednesday.
The ambassador said the situation with media freedom was of particular concern, noting that violent crimes against journalists persist in the country. The perpetrators of these attacks including the killers of the controversial Monitor magazine editor Elmar Huseynov remain unpunished. The number of trials on libel charges has sharply increased, Derse said.
"Although a pardon decree was issued late last year, several journalists are still jailed," she said.
Derse said the problem of ensuring freedom of assembly was another area of concern given that 2008 is an election year in Azerbaijan. She said media freedom, freedom of assembly and participation in the period leading up to the election will be the deciding factors for the conduct of a free and fair vote.
"We are aware that freedom, democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration are Azerbaijan’s strategic choice. I hope that the State Department’s assessment will be deemed as constructive criticism, as the ‘friends tell the truth’ saying goes."
Chairwoman of the parliamentary commission on human rights, Rabiyyat Aslanova, said the US government’s report did not fully reflect the real state of things. "The State Department’s methods of preparing such documents should improve."
Washington severely criticized Azerbaijan’s human rights record in the report, citing problems with the work of law enforcement agencies, media freedom and other shortfalls.*