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Azerbaijani Journalists 'Assaulted' In Baku

Journalist Elmin Badalov (file photo)

Journalist Elmin Badalov (file photo)

July 29, 2010
An opposition journalist in Azerbaijan says he and another reporter were assaulted on the outskirts of Baku, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

Elmin Badalov, who writes for the opposition daily "Yeni Musavat," told RFE/RL that he and Anar Gerayli from the newspaper "Milli Yol" were taking pictures of luxury villas when several men emerged from cars and began to beat and kick him.

He said Gerayli was pushed and knocked to the ground, but was unhurt.

Badalov was investigating a report that the villas belong to Transportation Minister Ziya Mammadov.

Badalov said the men took his camera and erased the photos.

He added that the two were held for more than three hours. He said the unidentified men told Badalov and Gerayli that they would be "watching them for the next six months."

Badalov received first aid for his injuries after returning to "Yeni Musavat's" office.

"Yeni Musavat" said it would lodge a complaint with the police about the July 28 incident.

An Interior Ministry official told RFE/RL it would investigate the claims by Badalov if a complaint was filed.
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Comments
by: Nadeem Khan from: Peshawar
July 31, 2010 06:05
So it is another example.Those who even think to show the real face of Azaerbaijan present Govenment are threatened and warned by the special agencies.How one can say that theres democracy in the country.All resources of the state are directly in controle of the president and the relatives of the president enjoying high pisions in the diffirent departments.And no body can challenge them.what ever they want they do.IS IT DEMOCRACY??

by: Seyran from: Armenia
August 01, 2010 06:09
A simple answer to your question and all the possible questions you may arise: Azerbaijan has oil, end of story. You think anyone even cares about democracy in Azerbaijan or anywhere in the world? Nope, international institutions looking for "democracy" only care about two things: 1) Is the country allied with the West or not? Does it represents a danger for Western interests? and 2) Do they have oil?. If Mr. Ahmadinejad would be an ally from the West, I give you my word, not a single person would ever say anything about Iran. The same goes to Azerbaijan, since Mr. Aliyev has power and oil, and such oil is directed at Western supported companies, then he and his regime can do whatever they want, nobody cares about anything else.

This is the same all around the world. Democracy is a failed and overused concept that has lost its meaning, and it is instead used by the world powers to cause people more pain and maintain the status quo: Rich people UP, Poor people DOWN. Rich people RESTS, Poor people WORKS. Rich people gets MONEY, Poor people gets NOTHING.

We need new concepts, all of the ones we've used are outdated and dangerous.

by: Nadeem Khan from: Peshawar,Pakistan
August 03, 2010 09:14
Dear Seyran we cant not blame democracy can not deny by simply saying that democracy is failed.
Democracy is a system which is based on flexibility.This system involves directly the masses.The voices of masses are always listen through a free media.people always talk about the welfare of their state.And the government is always run by the elected representatives of the society.in this system masses are directly involve in the development of the state and society.where ever in the world where democracy exists in the real form those states are much developed and organized.European Union and USA and Canada are the major examples.I have lived in former USSR for about 7 years .where i got a chance to study that society and system.And when i saw that theres one party system and one can raise their voices against the party decisions, and if some body try to raise their voices they were put in prisons.It changed all my political philosophy.the media was in control of the party and people got only those news which were publicized by the party.I think you know better than me because Armenia was the state of former USSR.That system failed because there was no involvement of the masses.And when Gorbachev introduced the glasnost policy you saw the result that a powerful Nuclear armed state decentralized with in no time.Because Gorbachev allowed the masses for the very first time to criticize and to participate in the government matters and all the world saw the result that Soviet Nation rejected the socialist system.this was the decision of the masses and that was the failure of socialism.I think that this example is sufficient.Now lets talk about democracy.As i told in the beginning that democracy is flexible system and masses are directly involved in the decisions of the states with the help of free media.Free media is the voice of masses and the representatives of the common people always know what the masses demands.and they make decisions and introduce new laws and reforms on the demand of the majority.Democracy improves day by day and in the result states and system improves which provides better standard of living to the citizens.
and at the end i would like to talk about Central Asian states including Azerbaijan ,Georgia and Armenia.After the decentralization of USSR i got so many chances to visit Central Asia and lived in different states for long time.After the soviet fall people were happy that they can have democratic setup in their countries but the leaders of the newly established states were almost the former Communist party members.They kept practicing the old soviet system with strong dictatorship and didn't took any step which they thought could be a threat to their power.Majority these states are completely police states.There are no free media.in most Central Asians states theres no opposition. no one is allowed to talk about the government policies and if some body tries to do such sin they are sent to prison.This is the continuation of former Soviet policies.And it is clear that this system has failed already which we have seen in the destruction of former USSR.The rulers of the said states are joking with democracy and trying to establish their power and to control over the assets of the states but they can not survive for long time.The world has become a global village and the free media of the free world educating the masses.I think that very soon the people of central Asia will decide their future and we will see very soon a free and real democratic Central Asia.
     
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