{"id":244,"date":"2014-05-22T12:33:58","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T12:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=244"},"modified":"2014-05-27T12:39:36","modified_gmt":"2014-05-27T12:39:36","slug":"do-you-know-who-atletico-madrids-real-sponsor-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=244","title":{"rendered":"Do you know who Atl\u00e9tico Madrid\u2019s real sponsor is?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Reporters Without Borders<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Do you really know Azerbaijan, the country that sponsors Atl\u00e9tico Madrid? \u201cLand of fire\u201d according to the official propaganda but \u201cland of repression\u201d in practice. The millions of viewers who watch the UEFA Champions League Final on 24 May must not be fooled by the propaganda. This Caucasian republic is ranked 160th out of 180 countries in the press freedom index and its president, Ilham Aliyev, is a predator of press freedom who has eliminated almost all pluralism in his country<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/covcasbulletin-info.hhd.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Atletico-uniform-Azerbaijan-land-of-repression.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-245\" src=\"https:\/\/covcasbulletin-info.hhd.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Atletico-uniform-Azerbaijan-land-of-repression.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"459\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Atletico-uniform-Azerbaijan-land-of-repression.jpg 620w, https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Atletico-uniform-Azerbaijan-land-of-repression-300x212.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><\/a>No fewer than 10 journalists and as many bloggers are in prison for displaying too much independence for the government\u2019s taste. The journalist and human rights defender Parviz Hashimli was <a title=\"Another journalist convicted, given eight years in prison\" href=\"http:\/\/en.rsf.org\/azerbaijan-another-journalist-convicted-given-16-05-2014,46294.html\" target=\"_blank\">sentenced<\/a> to eight years in prison on 15 May on trumped-up charges of \u201creceiving\u201d and \u201cillegal sale of arms.\u201d The government\u2019s reach extends beyond its borders. It got Turkey to extradite Rauf Mirkadyrov, the independent newspaper Zerkalo\u2019s correspondent, on 18 April. He <a title=\"Well-known journalist arrested on spying charge after deportation\" href=\"http:\/\/en.rsf.org\/azerbaidjan-well-known-journalist-arrested-on-23-04-2014,46181.html\" target=\"_blank\">was immediately jailed<\/a> on a spying charge.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A biased regulatory authority and manipulation of the advertising market have given the government complete control of broadcasting. There is no independent TV station and a handful of independent newspapers struggle to survive. The leading one, Azadlig, is <a title=\"Courts use heavy damages awards to stifle opposition newspaper\" href=\"http:\/\/en.rsf.org\/azerbaijan-courts-use-heavy-damages-awards-to-28-02-2013,44148.html\" target=\"_blank\">close to economic collapse<\/a> as a result of astronomical damages awards and the press distribution company\u2019s refusal to pay what it is owed from sales.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Azerbaijan\u2019s government paradoxically became the guarantor of human rights in the European continent on 14 May, when it assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe\u2019s committee of ministers. Reporters Without Borders is outraged by this and <a title=\"Open letter to President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande on the occasion of his official visit to Azerbaijan\" href=\"http:\/\/en.rsf.org\/azerbaijan-open-letter-to-francois-hollande-09-05-2014,46260.html\" target=\"_blank\">calls<\/a> on the Council of Europe\u2019s 46 other members to remind Azerbaijan\u2019s president of his duties as regards respect for freedom of information.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All campaign visuals are royalty-free but please credit \u00a9 Reporters Without Borders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Reporters Without Borders Do you really know Azerbaijan, the country that sponsors Atl\u00e9tico Madrid? \u201cLand of fire\u201d according to the official propaganda but \u201cland of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=244\" title=\"Do you know who Atl\u00e9tico Madrid\u2019s real sponsor is?\">[more &gt;&gt;&gt;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azerbaijan","category-azerbaijan-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}