Last week I reported on the brutal murder of the biggest opposition journalist in Azerbaijan, and between then and now over ten NGOs have condemned the murder. While there has been a near media blackout in terms of what has happened since then, a new scandal within the government has erupted. Top government officials have been found to be involved in a high-profile kidnapping ring, and the opposition is once again calling for the government’s resignation.

BAKU, March 11 (AFP) – The Azeri opposition called Friday for the government to step down in the wake of the break-up of a kidnapping ring in which top officials were implicated.

“The country is controlled by the mafia … the main components of this criminal world are the highly placed officials,” the Musavat party said in a faxed statement calling for the cabinet to be sacked.

The statement came after police freed the wife of the president of the country’s largest bank, the International Bank of Azerbaijan, in a special operation called “Black Belt” on Thursday.

She had been held for ransom in a basement outside the capital for a month, Azerbaijan’s security ministry said.
The ministry said it had arrested top police officials in the raid, including a colonel, while local media reported that a rival executive from the country’s second largest bank, CapitalBank, was one of the suspects being held.

On Friday an independent deputy in Azerbaijan’s parliament, Dzhamil Gasanli, also weighed in with criticism of the government but called only for the interior minister to step down, saying “the abduction of the wife of the International Bank head is the result of the authorities’ corruption,” local media reported.

The security ministry said the ring had been behind a number of high profile kidnappings, including that of a prosecutor and the sons of a casino owner, a top state oil company executive, a store owner, a restaurant owner and the head of an insurance company.

The ministry also implicated them in contract assassinations of the vice president of Azerbaijan’s football federation, a top ranking prosecutor and drug control officer.

“The kidnappings of wealthy people’s family members and the fact that these cases are never solved show that highly placed officials and the criminal groups that they protect are behind this,” the Musavat party said.

I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt until more evidence comes to the table, but all this proves is that Elmar Huseynov very well could have been assassinated by the government.

Because of the mounting pressures coming from the opposition and NGOs, George Soros is being blamed for funding them.

Some local media have reported quoting “reliable sources” that the Soros Foundation is engaged in financing a number of opposition parties in Baku on the eve of the parliamentary elections in the country, due in November.

Executive director of the Soros Foundation office in Baku Farda Asadov has refuted the reports saying that the organization is allegedly funding the Azeri opposition.
“According to our policy, we never have and don’t intend to allocate any grants to opposition or pro-government parties in Azerbaijan”, he told a news conference on Friday.
Asadov added that the Foundation mainly provides assistance to NGOs and the government sector.
He said that in 2004 the Soros Foundation allocated some $2.8 million under various assistance programs covering civil society development, education, and different information projects in Azerbaijan. He also said that the Foundation plans to a allot $11 million for fighting drug addiction, AIDS and other healthcare-related fields over the next five years.

“Reliable sources” or not, of course the Open Society Institute funds them. They did the same thing in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine’s, as well as currently in Belarus with ZUBR. It isn’t a coincidence that OSI’s programs promote the same things liberal opposition groups do. In fact, this year alone they have designated quite a bit of money to various projects.

The Soros Foundation has allocated $1.94 million in grants under 348 projects on non-governmental organizations in Azerbaijan in 2004, executive director of the Soros Foundation office in Baku Farda Asadov told journalists on Friday.

Touching upon the mechanism of providing grants, Asadov said that relevant decisions are made by 7 independent experts, who determine whether or not the funds will be allocated to any given NGO. These experts are regularly replaced to ensure transparency, he added.

Here is their page where they talk about their various projects regarding the upcoming elections. While I don’t like Soros personally, or his politics for the U.S., I do appreciate the funding he gives NGOs in countries like this.

Speaking of the elections, get a load of this:

Their results will ensure successfully moving forward democracy in the country, President Ilham Aliyev told journalists. The conduct of elections, the count of votes and other issues will be transparent. The President also expressed his discontent over the activity of some observers.
“At times, observers say something behind the closed doors but their official statements are completely different.”

Cue the evil interventionalist laughter!