String of UK peers accepted free trips to authoritarian Azerbaijan
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Human rights groups say endorsements by members of the House of Lords hosting events and acting as election observers risk legitimising regime. In years gone by, the two members of the House of Lords had been political enemies, running the headquarters of rival parties during hotly contested general election battles. In October, however, they stood side by side to pay their respects to the former president of Azerbaijan.
![[The three men stand side by side holding bunches of red flowers]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f46cb26579c6626855aade2bce67a35fcb086f43/0_56_945_567/master/945.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
A wreath laid at Heydar Aliyev’s grave in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, bore three names: Iain McNicol, Labour’s former general secretary, Darren Mott, the former chief executive of the Conservatives, and Tahir Gözel, a prominent local businessman who had paid for the peers’ visit.
![[Ilham Aliyev takes a knee to kiss a flag.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/bb64ecdda643dcd57e08efcc1dadfb2c09fecf4e/0_169_1872_1123/master/1872.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Lord McNicol and Lord Mott are identified in a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) as the most recent in a line of peers to have taken free trips to Azerbaijan, giving support to the government of President Ilham Aliyev.
![[Ilham Aliyev places his ballot in a box]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/679cb0e4d24a3c5f7b10515b2527f4288ae58fe5/0_0_2875_1724/master/2875.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Aliyev has held power since 2003, having taken over from his father who governed the country under the Soviets and was first elected in 1993 after a military coup. All of the peers’ trips were properly registered and there is no suggestion they have broken any rules. However, human rights groups are concerned that endorsements given by members of the UK’s upper legislature risk legitimising an authoritarian state. Azerbaijan’s rulers have been accused of ethnic cleansing, the repression of political opposition, and imprisonment and persecution of journalists and activists.
![[The names of Gözel, McNicol and Mott on a wreath in front of a statue of Heydar Aliyev in Baku.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d4d894ed6888919286569248750c7e19ec8eaa47/0_22_945_567/master/945.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
