 Azerbaijan is among the non-free countries again. The International Human Rights Organization Freedom House has published the annual report Freedom in the World 2023. Basic freedoms in the world have been steadily deteriorating for 17 years. Last year, 16 of the 57 countries considered unfree also had the lowest scores on political rights and civil liberties. Azerbaijan is among the 16 countries where also South Sudan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Myanmar, Eritrea, North Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Somalia, Tajikistan and Yemen. According to Freedom House, among the reasons why freedom and democracy are experiencing the greatest decline are wars whose attacks by illegal leaders on democratic institutions. In February 2022, the authoritarian regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war against Ukraine to suppress the hard-won democratic process. The parliaments of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have imposed additional restrictions on the activities of media and journalists and new legislation requires foreign online platforms to register as local legal entities. It should be noted that official Baku has not yet commented on the Freedom House report in any way. The authorities traditionally claim that fundamental freedoms including freedom of speech and the media, associations and religions are fully guaranteed in Azerbaijan. There are no politically motivated interests in the country and oppositionists are tried and arrested for specific violations. Law enforcement agencies reject the accusations of torture and inhuman treatment.