Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
Few authoritarian states have worked harder than Azerbaijan to leverage major international events to boost their image on the world stage.
Human rights and democracy advocates have decried the strategy as a “sportswashing” of a regime where opposition parties are crushed, journalists are imprisoned, and oil wealth is controlled by a small clique of ruling elites.
A new OCCRP investigation reveals the human cost of some of Azerbaijan’s projects — and the lengths the state has gone to protect its image when its complicity was unearthed.
Several marquee buildings in Baku, the country’s capital, were built or renovated by men from the Balkans who were shipped to Baku by a company connected to government officials. They were forced to work long hours in grueling conditions for almost no pay. Two died there; many others were marked forever by their time toiling far from home. This is their story.
Read the full investigation here: occrp.org/en/slaves-to-progress
Subscribe to OCCRP on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCAdFen-6WQOxmDHK3saMD8A
Few authoritarian states have worked harder than Azerbaijan to leverage major international events to boost their image on the world stage.
Human rights and democracy advocates have decried the strategy as a “sportswashing” of a regime where opposition parties are crushed, journalists are imprisoned, and oil wealth is controlled by a small clique of ruling elites.
A new OCCRP investigation reveals the human cost of some of Azerbaijan’s projects — and the lengths the state has gone to protect its image when its complicity was unearthed.
Several marquee buildings in Baku, the country’s capital, were built or renovated by men from the Balkans who were shipped to Baku by a company connected to government officials. They were forced to work long hours in grueling conditions for almost no pay. Two died there; many others were marked forever by their time toiling far from home. This is their story.
Read the full investigation here: occrp.org/en/slaves-to-progress
Subscribe to OCCRP on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCAdFen-6WQOxmDHK3saMD8A
