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Azerbaijan-Italy is not just a football match where the Italian national will face Azerbaijan national on 10 October 2015 in Baku. It is not going to be a game of 22 footballers struggling for being qualified for Euro 2016. The match is going to mean much more – the footballers will learn about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, where the regime is always “offside” when it comes to that sphere, Anna Mazzone writes for the Italian portal Panorama.it.

The journalist writes that on September 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution strongly condemning the crimes the regime in Azerbaijan commits against freedom of press and freedom of expression in the post-Soviet republic. She highlights that journalists, bloggers and activists are regularly facing politically motivated persecutions and imprisonments in Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the Aliyev regime prefers to use “caviar diplomacy” during meetings and negotiations in an attempt to attract the European partners to his side. The situation is changing when it comes to the international community, which has repeatedly called on Baku to stop trampling on his citizens’ rights. Still, Aliyev’s regime turns a deaf ear to those calls.

Mazzone further recommends her Italian colleagues to keep in mind the incident with the Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan. “When commentating on the match Azerbaijan-Italy on 10 October, take into consideration the Baku regime’s threats to Mkhitaryan, Dortmund Borussia’s Armenian player. The regime promised to arrest him if he arrives for the Azerbaijan match with the German team. This is why Azerbaijan-Italy is not just a football game,” Mazzoni points out.

Repubblica Sport, another Italian website, reports that Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev will not be attending the match between Azerbaijan and Italy in the Baku Olympic Stadium because the UEFA President Michel Platini and the FIFA President Sepp Blatter did not accept the invitation for the event.

UEFA President Michel Platini’s Baku visit was cancelled because of a scandal in the leadership of world and Europe football. Platini, a former famous footballer, was to attend the Euro 2016 qualifying match between Azerbaijan and Italy on 10 October 2015. However, the FIFA Ethics Committee decided to suspend Platini and Blatter’s football activities for 90 days.

Related:
Council of Europe leaves Azerbaijan human rights working group 
Azerbaijan threatens to arrest German Borussia’s Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan 
Italian journalist: Getting into Azerbaijan’s “black list” honor for people refusing to “kiss tyrant Aliyev’s feet”