RESPONSE TO STATE 44903: FOLLOWING UP ON THE

UNCLAS BAKU 000437

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/SEA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL AJ
SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO STATE 44903: FOLLOWING UP ON THE
ACTIVISTS FOR DEMOCRACY AND DISSIDENTS OUTREACH REQUEST

REF: A. STATE 44903

B. 07 STATE 108924

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.


1. (SBU) In response to reftels, as part of the Embassy's
democracy strategy, the Ambassador and Emboffs regularly meet
with human rights activists, opposition members, and other
democracy defenders, such as journalists. These cases have
been reported throughout the year; highlights are listed
below. Per the reftel description, there are no such
dissidents in country.


2. (SBU) In September 2007, Emboff met with a formerly
pro-government Member of Parliament (MP) who was arrested and
lost his seat following a scuffle in Parliament, which
observers reported was a set-up. In September 2007, Emboff
traveled to Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan to investigate
two particularly abhorrent cases of human rights violations,
meeting with a journalist who was arrested and beaten in
detention, and an opposition activist who was forcibly
committed to a mental institution. In October 2007, Emboff
visited in the hospital a journalist from an independent
newspaper who was beaten in the course of investigating a
forced eviction. In October 2007 and again in January, the
Ambassador met with the key human rights activists who work
on political prisoner issues. In November 2007, the
Ambassador met with a group of youth activists, many of them
affiliated with the political opposition. In honor of
International Human Rights Day, in December 2007, the
Ambassador met with a group of journalists, each of whom had
been physically attacked over the past two years. In March,
the Ambassador visited in the hospital a journalist from an
opposition newspaper who was stabbed.


3. (SBU) In addition, the EMBASSY uses every opportunity to
encourage high-level visitors to Baku to engage with these
groups. For example, during a November 2007 visit, EUR A/S
Fried met separately with the leaders of Azerbaijan's main
opposition political parties and key human rights activists.
In separate January visits, Senator Lugar and Representative
Wexler met with the major opposition leaders, and
Representative Schuster met with several key opposition MPs.
During a March visit, EUR DAS Bryza met separately with the
primary opposition leaders and with key human rights
activists.
DERSE