Can Engelbert Humperdinck free Azerbaijan?

The Eurovision Song Contest

  by G.E. | TBILISI

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK, the 75-year old chosen by the BBC to represent Britain at the Eurovision song contest, is more famous for such hits as “After the Lovin’” than for political campaigning. But some activists hope that when he showcases his crooning in Baku in Azerbaijan on May 26th, the event will be made memorable for another reason. With some 120m people expected to tune in, they want to highlight the country’s deteriorating human-rights record.

Azerbaijan's government is spending a great deal of money tarting up its capital for the contest. The contest will take place in the new Baku Crystal Hall, a gleaming 23,000-seat arena. But a new report from Human Rights Watch highlights the abuses that were committed along the way. Local authorities expropriated houses and evicted residents with scant regard for due process or the rights of homeowners.

One family woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of bulldozers. They made it out of the building in one piece, but lost many of their belongings. Police broke down a door to arrest another family; by the time of their release five hours later, little remained of their home.

President Ilham Aliev hopes the event will serve as a celebration of Azerbaijan as it celebrates 21 years of independence. His government has spent millions of dollars on a public-relations campaign to boost the country’s standing. It is streamlining its unwieldy visa regime to encourage international visitors.

Indeed, Azerbaijan has come a long way since the dark days of the early 1990s, when the country fought a bitter war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. True, 13-16% of the country's territory (depending on how you count) remains in Armenian control, the conflict remains frozen, and Azerbaijan hosts roughly 600,000 people displaced from their homes.

But huge oil revenues have led to a flurry of infrastructure and reconstruction projects. Social-welfare payments trebled between 2006 and 2010, and living standards have been boosted considerably as a result, according to the World Bank. Another new report, from the International Crisis Group, describes how this wealth has benefited some of the displaced—even though many more need help.

Yet all that has come at the expense of political freedom, as Amnesty International underlined two weeks ago. Mr Aliev, the group says, runs an authoritarian regime where opposition is not tolerated. Journalists routinely censor themselves; those who do not face violent retribution.

NGOs are subject to harassment; the judiciary does the executive’s bidding. Police truncheons disbursed peaceful anti-government demonstrations in March and April last year. Azerbaijan’s winning Eurovision song last year was, aptly, called “Running Scared”.

Eurovision organisers say they hope the event will help improve the situation. A group of local journalists have set up a website to cover the contest, with what they say will be an independent eye.

But as the government advertises its modernising credentials, spare a thought for 16 “prisoners of conscience” that Amnesty International says remain in prison following last year’s demonstrations. Last week, the EU called on Azerbaijan to invite the Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for political prisoners, who has not been able to visit the country since 2009.

As Mr Humperdinck prepares to announce his entry for this year's contest, he could consider reprising his 1967 classic “Release Me”.