Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-17-Speech-4-260"
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"en.20091217.22.4-260"2
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"Mr President, I welcome the attention drawn to the appalling and consistent crushing of human rights in Azerbaijan: no freedom for the media, dozens of journalists jailed, some beaten, some even killed in recent years. But we must ask why the regime of Mr Aliyev is implementing such horrific repression. The reason of course is to try and cover up the regime of enormous corruption which exists in that country. The ruling elite has enriched itself fabulously, especially in the oil and gas industry, while 90% of the population of Azerbaijan live in acute poverty and have seen no benefit from the natural resources of their country.
Western governments and multinational corporations act, as usual, with great hypocrisy in this regard. They routinely deal with the regime to facilitate doing business, and the corporations make massive profits from the exploitation of the natural resources properly belonging to the people of Azerbaijan. Western governments should be asked why they do not demand that the oil-well be used to transform the lives of the people, instead of propping up this regime.
Members of the European Parliament, quite correctly, are harsh in their condemnation of the crushing of the right to dissent and to demonstrate freely in Azerbaijan, and I cannot let this opportunity pass to also condemn the disgraceful repression of protests by the Danish police in Copenhagen in recent days, who arrested up to 1 000 entirely peaceful protestors, handcuffed them and left them lying for hours in the cold.
When I protested and demanded the release of some CWI colleagues, the police themselves told me that it was preventive arrest, preventive detention. What goes for Azerbaijan should certainly go for a Member State of the European Union as well."@en1
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