Sport must use its leverage to force the Aliyev ruling family to release political prisoners and end shocking human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, human rights campaigners told the Sports Integrity Initiative in an interview (below) at Play The Game 2015 on 26 October in Aarhus, Denmark. A day later, Elchin Safarov, Corporate Director of the 2015 Baku Organising Committee for the European Games, told delegates that the whole country benefitted from the Games, and that this justifies spending US$760 million on legacy facilities when the average monthly wage for doctors and teachers is $150.

Human rights activists Rebecca Vincent and Gulnara Akhundova, former Head Supervisor for the 2015 European Olympic Games Rasim Adjalov and David Bloss of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project painted a brutal picture of human rights abuses and murder of political journalists in the country. In the above interview, they explain how sport has a role to play in ensuing that political prisoners are released and human rights abuses ended in the country.

Vincent explains how political journalist Rasim Aliyev died in hospital after apparently making a partial recovery from a beating after criticising a professional footballer. Political journalist Aliyev, who it is understood had recently begun reporting on sports as a sideline, explains the circumstances of the attack in the video below.

Also detailed in the interview is Baku 2015’s use of fake tourists to promote the benefits of hosting the Games; forced evictions to make way for the Games; how energy interests are playing a role in stopping governments speaking out on human rights abuses; a bus crash involving six young Austrian synchronised swimmers (video below) and more. In this interview, Emma Hughes discusses the possibility that politicians are reluctant to speak out as they are keen to win favour with Azerbaijan in order to benefit from the construction of an oil pipeline from the country’s oil fields.

Formula One is scheduled to bring the European Grand Prix to Baku in 2016, and Safarov told delegates that Azerbaijan would “like to bid” for the 2024 Olympic Games, and “would consider” a bid for the 2028 Games. Despite this interest, he claimed he “doesn’t know” about any International Olympic Committee (IOC) human rights requirements, and declined to answer questions  about human rights. “I am not a politician”, he said.