A United Nations human rights expert says that Azerbaijan's civil society has been "paralyzed" by the government and, in the past two to three years, has faced "the worst situation" since the country's independence in 1991.Michel Forst, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said on September 22 that Azerbaijani authorities have applied crippling pressure to journalists and rights activists critical of the government, and made it virtually impossible for nongovernmental organizations to operate.
