EU slams Azerbaijan over rights HQ demolition

(BAKU) - The European Union Friday strongly criticised Azerbaijan for knocking down the office of a local human rights group as part of a project to modernise the capital of the energy-rich ex-Soviet state.

A statement from the EU's delegation to Azerbaijan said that it "deplores" the demolition on Thursday evening of the building occupied by the Institute for Peace and Democracy, which is "a regular partner of the international community".

One of the group's staff who was in the office when demolition workers arrived to knock it down said that he only realised what was happening when he heard machinery outside.

"They started to destroy (the building) without warning," Azad Isazade of the Institute for Peace and Democracy told AFP.

"This is a complete violation of the law," he said.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch said that the building also housed the Azerbaijani Campaign to Ban Landmines and the only women's crisis center in Baku.

"The government's ruthless demolition of an office that serves as a hub for human rights activism in Azerbaijan sends a chilling message to all Azerbaijanis," Jane Buchanan of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

The campaign group said that many people have also lost their homes as the authorities seek to carry out a large-scale gentrification drive in Baku that involves tearing down old buildings to make way for modern constructions.

Azerbaijan -- an important supplier of oil and gas to Europe -- has often been criticised by rights groups, but the authorities led by strongman President Ilham Aliyev deny allegations that they violate democratic freedoms.