Journalist on violations in Azerbaijan: Lukashenka is yet to 'catch' up with Aliyev

Mavsun Hajiyev was forced to leave his country and go to Belarus and then to Germany.

Belsat: Mavsun, you lived and worked in Belarus for a long time. Compare, please, where the authorities are tougher: in Belarus or Azerbaijan?

Mavsun Hajiyev: If we talk about where the situation is worse, then I can say that a week ago in Belarus were 7 political prisoners while in Azerbaijan – more than two hundred.

In Azerbaijan, people can be arrested for a Facebook post, the problems begins from ‘likes’. Lukashenka is still to “grow” to this level.

When Heydar Aliyev was there 15 years ago, you could say the situation in Azerbaijan was much more liberal than in Belarus, as the parliament had an opposition faction. The independent media were published, rallies held, there were almost no political prisoners. But now the situation has changed dramatically. In Azerbaijan, there are two dissident television channels, like “Belsat”. One is broadcasting from Germany, another one – from the territory of France. Heads of the two channels are in the status of political refugees, dissidents, the authorities cannot reach them, and so began the arrests of their relatives. It got crazy, when the family of one of them got summoned and was forced to write statements that they supposedly condemn the activities of the head of the channel, and only after that people were given assurances that they would have no trouble. This is something close to Turkmenistan.

The complete talk – in the video above.