:00:14. > :00:19.There are just five days to go to Eurovision. The final of the most
:00:19. > :00:23.watched, non-sporting contest in the world. A song competition that
:00:23. > :00:29.attracts 120 million viewers worldwide.
:00:29. > :00:34.# Only love can save set you free. # Engelbert Humperdinck is
:00:34. > :00:40.representing the UK, but this year, it's in a country which is no
:00:40. > :00:44.ordinary host nation. We're under cover in the former Soviet Republic
:00:44. > :00:49.of Azerbaijan. We are being followed again. Two government
:00:49. > :00:52.agents were waiting for us in the hotel this morning. Home to a
:00:52. > :00:56.ruling dynasty, accused of exploiting the contest.
:00:56. > :00:58.The President of Azerbaijan, the Government of Azerbaijan is
:00:58. > :01:03.building its propaganda on Eurovision.
:01:03. > :01:07.A country where a Eurovision vote attracts attention from state
:01:07. > :01:10.security. TRANSLATION: They asked why I voted
:01:10. > :01:15.for Armenia, they took a statement and applied pressure.
:01:15. > :01:19.Where just making fun of regime may land you in jail.
:01:19. > :01:24.At the end we were sentenced to two and two-and-a-half years in prison.
:01:24. > :01:34.In fact, if you were marking Azerbaijan's human rights record,
:01:34. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:51.We arrive on a chilly April evening. Azerbaijan does not welcome
:01:51. > :01:58.investigative journalists. So we are here as tourists, unsure what
:01:58. > :02:03.will happen if we are caught. The interviews to be done secretly
:02:03. > :02:08.indoors. Any outdoor filming will be done on a tourist camera.
:02:08. > :02:13.This is the song that won them last year's competition, and with it the
:02:13. > :02:23.right to host this year's competition, Running Scared. Some
:02:23. > :02:33.
:02:33. > :02:36.people in Azerbaijan have been A hilltop high above the capital,
:02:36. > :02:42.Baku. The blame is for the country's war
:02:42. > :02:47.dead. It is also a symbol of the vast gas and oil reserves that led
:02:47. > :02:52.the ancients to call this place the Land of Fire. Azerbaijan produces
:02:52. > :02:57.almost 1 million barrels of oil a day. The revenues have helped to
:02:57. > :03:02.make the ruling family, Ilham Aliyev, his wife and three children,
:03:02. > :03:09.fabulously rich, along with their inner circle.
:03:09. > :03:13.Just across there is down town Baku it looks out over the Caspian Sea
:03:13. > :03:17.and if you look this way, you can find the development that
:03:17. > :03:25.Azerbaijan has spent so much money on to impress the world. The
:03:25. > :03:28.enormous flag pole, it is 40 storeys high. To the left, is Baka
:03:28. > :03:33.Chrystal Hall. Built specifically for the Eurovision Song Contest. It
:03:33. > :03:36.is going to seat more than 20,000 people. Most in the UK view the
:03:36. > :03:46.song contest with a large dose of irony.
:03:46. > :03:49.
:03:49. > :03:52.# All kinds of everything... # Its high kitsch charm stretches back to
:03:52. > :04:02.decades. # Power to all our friends. #
:04:02. > :04:03.
:04:03. > :04:08.# Water lieu, I was defeated... # # But if you want to see some more.
:04:08. > :04:12.# Eurovision organisers are determined that politics and the
:04:12. > :04:17.pop don't mix. The Eurovision is fantastic. I
:04:17. > :04:21.think that the artist's job is to draw attention to something. It is
:04:21. > :04:27.not our job to do the rest, there are people like politician,
:04:27. > :04:31.journalists, people like yourself in the media, you do the rest.
:04:31. > :04:35.COMMENTATOR: There we have it. The winner of the Eurovision Song
:04:35. > :04:39.Contest is Azerbaijan. It was not just last year's winning
:04:39. > :04:42.act breathless with excitement. The regime must have been too. Because
:04:42. > :04:46.in Azerbaijan, the competition is up there with hosting the football
:04:46. > :04:51.World Cup or the Olympics. Criticised by some as repressive,
:04:51. > :04:56.this is a chance for Azerbaijan to sing a song of respectability.
:04:56. > :05:02.The first family of Azerbaijan is building its propaganda. The
:05:02. > :05:06.President of Azerbaijan, the government of's is building its
:05:06. > :05:14.propaganda on Eurovision. It is not fair. I mean it is not fair. That's
:05:14. > :05:18.Though the regime denies it, Azerbaijan has previously taken
:05:18. > :05:26.advantage of the contest for political ends.
:05:26. > :05:35.# How can I stay. # In 2009, this was the entry of their long-time
:05:35. > :05:39.enemy, Armenia. They fought a bloody border conflict, one that is
:05:39. > :05:45.smouldering, so whiles we watch the entry in Azerbaijan, someone pulled
:05:45. > :05:47.the plug for their entry. Watching that night was Rovshan Nasirli, a
:05:47. > :05:54.pro-democracy supporter. I took out the form, thought about
:05:54. > :06:00.who to vote for. When the act for Armenia performed, the Azerbaijan
:06:00. > :06:05.TV stopped the broadcast. COMMENTATOR: Now it is time to
:06:05. > :06:10.vote... TRANSLATION: It was a protest, I
:06:10. > :06:15.voted for Armenia. What Rovshan Nasirli did may not
:06:15. > :06:19.sound like an apolitical statement, but in Azerbaijan, voting for the
:06:19. > :06:24.enemy, even in a song competition, it is a risk.
:06:24. > :06:28.Do you have sympathy or support for Armenia, is that what you voted for
:06:28. > :06:31.them? I didn't even hear the song it was just a protest.
:06:31. > :06:37.COMMENTATOR: The lines are closed. Please, don't call.
:06:37. > :06:40.Or, if you are in Azerbaijan, you may end up in the Ministry of
:06:40. > :06:45.National Security. TRANSLATION: I didn't want to go at
:06:45. > :06:50.first. They said that the mobile phone number was a part of a
:06:50. > :06:53.criminal investigation. Other viewers who voted for Armenia were
:06:53. > :06:57.also questioned. TRANSLATION: They asked why I voted
:06:57. > :07:00.for Armenia, they took a statement and applied pressure.
:07:00. > :07:03.Were you scared? TRANSLATION: No, I was not scared.
:07:03. > :07:11.We just had an argument. They threatened that they were
:07:11. > :07:15.going to hold me there, that they would show me on TV.
:07:15. > :07:21.This year, the Armenians have pulled out, afraid for the safety
:07:21. > :07:26.of their contestants. The people who run Eurovision are
:07:26. > :07:31.based here in Geneva. The European Broadcasting Union sets the rules.
:07:31. > :07:37.Key, is that the contest remains apolitical.
:07:37. > :07:42.In 2009, there were a number of people who vote for Armenia who
:07:42. > :07:47.were taken in for questioning? is unacceptable.
:07:47. > :07:52.But it shows us that the Azerbaijan government, the regime has plot
:07:52. > :07:57.sized the song contest already? That is what we try to prevent, but
:07:57. > :08:02.they try and that is why we have strict rules and try to prevent it.
:08:02. > :08:08.Driving through the capital, Baku, a Big Brother figure gazes down. It
:08:08. > :08:11.is the face of a former hardline ruler from the Soviet ruler, Heydar
:08:11. > :08:16.Aliyev. He became the President after a
:08:16. > :08:22.coup. Before dying he handed power to his son, Ilham Aliyev, the
:08:22. > :08:30.current President. This is his wife, the glamorous Mehriban. The two
:08:30. > :08:35.style-conscious daughters, Leyla living in London, and Arzu. There
:08:35. > :08:40.is a son, too, 15-year-old, Heydar Junior, when has acquired a vast
:08:41. > :08:45.wealth as a tender age. More of the First Family later.
:08:45. > :08:49.We went to meet activist and journalist, Emin Huseynov, from the
:08:49. > :08:54.Institute for Reporters' freedom and Safety.
:08:54. > :08:59.These are the offices? Yes. The staff here take it in turns to
:08:59. > :09:03.stay in the office overnight so that the secret police cannot break
:09:03. > :09:09.in and plant bugs. TRANSLATION: The government tried
:09:09. > :09:14.to control us and keep us under surveillance. They use different
:09:14. > :09:24.means to provoke us. They can arrest journalists on trumped up
:09:24. > :09:25.
:09:25. > :09:29.charges. They kill them. They would not be hard-pressed to find and
:09:29. > :09:33.punish journalists. Emin Huseynov was beaten. In the
:09:33. > :09:39.2003 presidential election, where we saw Ilham Aliyev come to power.
:09:39. > :09:43.Then again in an unprovoked attack in 2008, when he was arrested.
:09:43. > :09:50.TRANSLATION: My imprisonment was ordered from above. These days they
:09:51. > :09:55.don't beat meefplt but other journalists, -- beat me, but other
:09:55. > :09:59.journalists, because I'm experienced and well-known.
:09:59. > :10:05.Another journalist, Elmar Huseynov was renowned for his hard-hitting
:10:05. > :10:09.criticism of the ream. He was convicted of insulting the nation,
:10:09. > :10:14.harassed, intimidated, jailed. Then in 2005, he arrived home to find
:10:14. > :10:19.someone waiting for him. He was shot seven times and the murder is
:10:19. > :10:23.unsolved. Many other government critics are
:10:23. > :10:27.in jail. Human rights groups say that the
:10:27. > :10:31.regime has around 70 political prisoners.
:10:31. > :10:41.This is how the US embassy described Ilham Aliyev in a leaked
:10:41. > :10:55.
:10:55. > :10:59.We're off to a rare event on the outskirts of Baku. An opposition
:11:00. > :11:04.rally, sanctioned by the regime. It was going to be difficult to
:11:04. > :11:07.pose as tourists here. The secret police were not so secret.
:11:07. > :11:12.Our fixer had started to point them out.
:11:12. > :11:17.Can you see the guy on the ledge coming up on the ledge, he is
:11:17. > :11:22.filming. There are various other guys in
:11:22. > :11:25.dark sunglass and suits. Those who attend know that they may
:11:25. > :11:30.be identified. Though, what will happen to the information is
:11:30. > :11:34.unclear. This is more about intimidation.
:11:35. > :11:38.They have to get permission to hold a demonstration like this. This is
:11:38. > :11:43.only the second time since 2006 that they have been allowed to do
:11:43. > :11:46.it. It is not great mystery why. It is because world attention is now
:11:46. > :11:51.on Azerbaijan because of the Eurovision Song Contest.
:11:51. > :11:57.We wanted to speak to some of those attending, but our translator said
:11:57. > :12:02.that would single them out, that they could risk arrest. Instead, an
:12:02. > :12:06.opposition leaders, arranged to meet with us the following day.
:12:06. > :12:14.We left, not wanting to push our luck, but it seemed we were too
:12:14. > :12:20.late. The undercover agent is following
:12:20. > :12:23.us. We should go to a hotel that is not ours? Yes, hang out there until
:12:23. > :12:32.they are gone. We then lost them.
:12:32. > :12:36.The next morning, we arrived at the apartment of the opposition leader.
:12:36. > :12:42.TRANSLATION: Many of my relatives are under arrest. The rest were
:12:42. > :12:46.sacked from their jobs. My passport was taken away from me seven years
:12:46. > :12:49.ago. Our party offices have been seized from us. Sometimes the
:12:49. > :12:54.government stages a rally in front of my house. They demand that I
:12:54. > :12:59.leave the country. We are under constant pressure and control.
:12:59. > :13:09.Despite all of that, he stood for Parliament, twice.
:13:09. > :13:19.After the 2005 election, European monitors reported intimidation,
:13:19. > :13:19.
:13:19. > :13:29.ballot box stuffing and other problems. This is how the regime
:13:29. > :13:34.
:13:34. > :13:38.dealt with the peaceful protest that followed.
:13:38. > :13:41.When you leave the house are you followed?
:13:41. > :13:46.TRANSLATION: Every time they accompany me. It is like they are
:13:46. > :13:52.sending me a message. We are always with you, that they shir my life.
:13:52. > :13:56.That they receive e-- that they share my life, that they receive my
:13:56. > :13:59.messages, I have been living like this for a long time.
:13:59. > :14:04.Today we have brought our tale right to his door. We have been
:14:04. > :14:09.here two days, we know we are being followed now. There were three men
:14:09. > :14:19.in the hotel reception it morning. They followed us here in a car. We
:14:19. > :14:20.
:14:20. > :14:28.have finished an interview and the Moments later, they followed us
:14:28. > :14:33.again. On the surface, Baku appears like any prosperous European city.
:14:33. > :14:39.Familiar brands, status cars, eye- catching architecture, but beneath
:14:39. > :14:45.the surface the power of the ruling family is never far away. The
:14:45. > :14:50.president's wife, Mehriban, was elected to Parliament with an
:14:50. > :14:54.implausible 94% of the votes. We put allegations of rigged elections
:14:54. > :15:00.to the London ambassador. What I can tell you definitely is that
:15:00. > :15:10.each election is better than the previous one, of course. Is it
:15:10. > :15:10.
:15:11. > :15:16.realistic baton MP gets 94%? -- that an MP? Why not? When not?
:15:16. > :15:22.in an election, it is just inconceivable. It cannot be fed,
:15:22. > :15:27.can it? It can and it cannot be, I don't know. I do not know what you
:15:27. > :15:32.are speaking about. This is the president's wife, when she was
:15:32. > :15:40.elected to Parliament. With all my confidence, I will tell you that
:15:40. > :15:45.that was definitely real, confident, and she is capable to get even, I
:15:45. > :15:49.am sincere, more than that. First Lady is also the chairwoman
:15:50. > :15:56.of Azerbaijan's Eurovision committee and she has been able to
:15:56. > :16:05.rope in the family. Her son-in-law, Emin Agalarov, will sink to the
:16:05. > :16:09.audience while the viewers cast their votes. -- will sing.
:16:09. > :16:14.It looks suspiciously like a family affair and another opportunity for
:16:14. > :16:19.them to promote themselves as the ruling family. That was my first
:16:19. > :16:25.reaction as well when I heard it. And what have you done about it?
:16:25. > :16:32.cannot do anything about it. Is it acceptable? I cannot hide, it was
:16:32. > :16:36.amazing. Having her son-in-law on stage was probably more sort of
:16:36. > :16:41.surprising, and I have been told that he is actually a really good
:16:42. > :16:47.singer. The impression it gives is that it is exploiting Eurovision
:16:47. > :16:53.for a platform. Yes, the impression is, is this really necessary? I
:16:53. > :16:57.have to admit that. One musician knew that he would never be
:16:57. > :17:07.appearing at the Eurovision. He is in a dangerous game of writing
:17:07. > :17:10.
:17:11. > :17:15.This is what he is singing about. The bulldozing of apartments close
:17:15. > :17:19.to the Eurovision arena. Old, Communist blocs are not what the
:17:19. > :17:24.regime once the Eurovision audience to see. They ordered the residents
:17:24. > :17:29.to leave, many refused, and so the authorities moved in while some
:17:29. > :17:33.were still inside. TRANSLATION: It was around 5
:17:33. > :17:38.o'clock in the morning when I heard the noise and the building shook. A
:17:38. > :17:45.bulldozer had started demolishing the building. We were scared and I
:17:45. > :17:49.ran out with my children. evictions have happened across Baku
:17:49. > :17:54.but accelerated after Azerbaijan won the right to host Eurovision.
:17:54. > :17:59.They had been condemned by human rights groups around the world. But
:17:59. > :18:04.the contest organisers compare what has happened to the London Olympics.
:18:04. > :18:09.To be very frank, I think evictions are taking place everywhere. It is
:18:09. > :18:14.more about the way you are doing it, about proper procedure and
:18:14. > :18:19.compensation, and I cannot comment because I don't know, but again,
:18:19. > :18:23.when the Olympic village was built in London, there were evictions and
:18:23. > :18:28.you had protests. But people were subsidised and given plenty of
:18:28. > :18:32.notice. Yes, but they thought what was offered was not good enough.
:18:32. > :18:36.Those kinds of discussions you will find in every country. Although
:18:36. > :18:40.compensated, some say they only received a fraction of the market
:18:40. > :18:45.price. The regime says the evictions were not related to the
:18:45. > :18:50.contest and were part of the three- year reconstruction plan which
:18:50. > :18:55.predates Eurovision. But what of Jamal, the man who sang about it? A
:18:55. > :18:59.couple of months ago, he was on stage at a youth rally. Secret
:18:59. > :19:09.police were in the crowd. A stranger heckled him to stop
:19:09. > :19:44.
:19:44. > :19:54.This is 10 days in prison? Yes. says they tortured him and gave him
:19:54. > :20:12.
:20:12. > :20:18.He has already fled the country. Stories like that have made the
:20:18. > :20:23.organisers feel uneasy. How important is it for the EBU to
:20:23. > :20:27.champion free speech? Every important, absolutely one of the
:20:27. > :20:32.core values, because without freedom of expression you on not
:20:32. > :20:39.able to fulfil the core remit. Azerbaijan does not respect free
:20:39. > :20:44.speech, does it? No, it doesn't. This video Broca was sentenced to
:20:44. > :20:48.two years in jail for satirising the regime -- blogger. His story
:20:48. > :20:54.begins with the bill for two donkeys, which in agriculture
:20:54. > :21:00.minister claimed cost 42,000 euros each. How much would it donkey
:21:00. > :21:05.normally be? In Azerbaijan? 50 bucks! Rheumatic court that the
:21:05. > :21:11.payments were a kick back and so Adnan made a satirical video --
:21:11. > :21:16.rumours took hold. I thought if this donkey cost 42,000 euros, it
:21:16. > :21:21.must be something special. He can probably play the violin and speak
:21:21. > :21:26.five languages and has two degrees, what have you, so we put together
:21:26. > :21:31.this mock press conference with the donkey. But someone in the regime
:21:31. > :21:38.did not share his sense of humour. Two weeks later, this happened in a
:21:38. > :21:42.restaurant. Two athletes approached us out of nowhere, shouted at us,
:21:42. > :21:47.using profane language, and started beating us. They head-butted my
:21:47. > :21:52.friend, he fell to the ground. When I tried to support him, they
:21:52. > :21:56.started to beat me down. attackers were released but Adnan
:21:56. > :22:01.and his friend ended up here, accused of assault in a Baku
:22:01. > :22:06.courtroom in what was a thinly disguised political trial for two
:22:06. > :22:12.satirists who had mocked the regime. First of all they dismissed most of
:22:12. > :22:17.our witnesses, they dismissed our evidence on some baseless grounds.
:22:17. > :22:24.After that, they made all the policemen come and testify against
:22:24. > :22:34.us. He served 17 months in jail. The government says it is emerging
:22:34. > :22:35.
:22:35. > :22:43.from the shadow of its Soviet past. And free speech is guaranteed under
:22:43. > :22:48.the constitution. We are only 20 years old. Definitely, 20 years is
:22:48. > :22:54.not much time. I don't say we are perfect, everything is perfect. We
:22:54. > :23:02.do have problems of course. remains one of the 40 most corrupt
:23:02. > :23:08.countries in the world. This is the reality for many. Groom poverty,
:23:08. > :23:13.meagre pensions, poor sanitation -- grim poverty. Health-service
:23:13. > :23:23.dominated by a culture of bribes. Its oil wealth remains in the hands
:23:23. > :23:28.
:23:28. > :23:38.In public places, people refuse to speak to us about the Aliyev regime,
:23:38. > :23:53.
:23:53. > :24:01.It is a mafia state. And two runs the Mafia? I would say it is the
:24:02. > :24:05.president and his family. -- who runs the Mafia?
:24:05. > :24:10.Khadija Ismailova specialises in investigating the ruling family's
:24:10. > :24:16.welfare. In the run-up to Eurovision, it seems she has paid a
:24:16. > :24:26.heavy price. One day, she received this in the post. And inside the
:24:26. > :24:31.
:24:31. > :24:35.envelope there was a small note on And six peaches. -- pictures. They
:24:35. > :24:41.were taken from video footage and they were showing me engaged in
:24:41. > :24:46.sexual relations. How had they managed to take the pictures?
:24:46. > :24:49.planted a camera into my bedroom. They had been watching me.
:24:49. > :24:55.waiting for something that they could effectively blackmail you
:24:55. > :25:00.with? Yes, that is what happened. The video was published on a
:25:00. > :25:06.website. By that time she and her friends inspected the flat, the
:25:06. > :25:14.secret cameras had gone. Only drill halls and wiring remains. It was
:25:14. > :25:23.shocking. The first thing I discovered, I am very angry. And
:25:23. > :25:30.the anger was bigger than fear. It was big event anything. The first
:25:30. > :25:36.thing I did, I told myself, this is not going to affect my work.
:25:36. > :25:41.President Aliyev draws an official salary of less than �150,000 a year,
:25:41. > :25:46.but Panorama has discovered that his immediate family have corporate
:25:46. > :25:50.interests in a range of companies registered in the secrecy
:25:50. > :25:53.jurisdiction of Panama. Wherever you turn in Baku, it seems you are
:25:53. > :25:59.never too far away from the financial tentacles of the ruling
:25:59. > :26:02.family. Even when you use the phone, the president's daughters are
:26:02. > :26:07.listed as directors of companies linked to one of the main telephone
:26:07. > :26:11.networks. If you wanted to buy gold, the president's daughters might
:26:11. > :26:15.help you out again because they have acquired a financial stake in
:26:15. > :26:23.a gold mine in the west of the country. The smartest hotel in Baku,
:26:23. > :26:29.one of the people behind it is the president's 15-year-old son. He
:26:29. > :26:35.also bought property on the luxury Palm Island development in Dubai.
:26:35. > :26:40.Worth $40 million. Not bad for a schoolboy. Were you embarrassed at
:26:40. > :26:44.all when you heard that the president's son has some real
:26:44. > :26:50.estate on the Dubai Palm? I don't believe in everything that is in
:26:50. > :26:54.the newspapers, frankly speaking. The family of President Aliyev have
:26:54. > :27:00.Fyvie is companies based in Panama and I am struggling to understand
:27:00. > :27:06.the connection between Panama and Azerbaijan, have various companies.
:27:06. > :27:10.I do not have that information. this a delicate area to discuss?
:27:10. > :27:14.Definitely, because I am not a member of the family. I cannot
:27:15. > :27:24.answer the issues related to the family. The family refused to
:27:25. > :27:27.
:27:27. > :27:33.answer these questions. Becky, Engel bird has been on the
:27:33. > :27:38.publicity trail -- back in the UK, Engelbert has been on the publicity
:27:38. > :27:42.trail. We wanted to ask him how he felt about the human rights record
:27:42. > :27:45.in Azerbaijan but his management seemed keen that he should not
:27:45. > :27:50.speak to us. I am from the BBC and I wanted to
:27:50. > :27:57.know what it means for you to be representing your country. I am
:27:57. > :28:01.just excited. I love the idea. have got a plane to catch. Are you
:28:02. > :28:06.worried there is a danger of being seen to endorse the regime? I am
:28:06. > :28:14.not worried about anything. As a Eurovision contest and, perhaps you
:28:14. > :28:18.would not expect him to comment on politics. The organisers how were
:28:18. > :28:24.they insist they are not endorsing the regime or the way it behaves,
:28:24. > :28:30.just playing by the rules. We will see what is coming on in Azerbaijan
:28:30. > :28:35.and it for probably improve because of the Eurovision Song Contest, so
:28:35. > :28:39.that is the good part, but why are we going with it to Azerbaijan?
:28:39. > :28:43.Because it is according to the rules. The Eurovision has for the
:28:43. > :28:49.moment allowed us to pull back the curtain on this regime but the
:28:49. > :28:51.question is, what will happen once the cameras have gone? Next week: