Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan was rated as a "not free" country again in an annual report on freedoms worldwide released by US rights watchdog Freedom House.

The South Caucasus republic received 6 points on political rights and 5 points on civil freedoms, according to a 1-7 scale, with 1 indicating the top ranking.

Though Azerbaijan’s rankings in these areas remain unchanged from last year, Freedom House claimed that the country’s overall record has deteriorated.

Arch Puddington, Freedom House Vice President for Research, told Radio Liberty that the report shows that a number of challenges with democracy remain in countries around the world.

"The tendency toward authoritarianism that emerged a few years ago has not subsided and democracy is still frowned upon in many countries of the world.

"Authoritarian regimes have designed very intricate ways to secure their stay in power, and it is rather hard to make them budge," Puddington claimed.

He believes that this particularly holds true for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

The report rated as "not free" Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region where ethnic Armenians are running a self-proclaimed republic. Its scores are the same as Azerbaijan’s overall rankings.

The Azerbaijani government has repeatedly labeled Freedom House’s reports as biased.