6. The Pipeline: Mirvarie
Dimitri Collingridge, Co-Producer, Ep 2
Oil and corruption in Azerbaijan are such touchy subjects that I guess we shouldn't have been surprised when - as we wrapped up our interview with anti-corruption campaigner Mirvarie Gahramanile - we looked round to find a group of heavies waiting near our crew van.
As we took our kit back to the vehicle, we saw a couple of them walking towards us - both staring us down. One of them was wearing a BP t-shirt, while the other jostled director Dominic Allan. As I looked over the rest of the group, the giant-sized one who was driving their van began screaming abuse at me in a mixture of Russian and Azeri.
I got our cameraman to grab some shots of them out of the back window, while Dominic engaged the one with the BP t-shirt: "Are you BP?" he asked. "No", replied the man still staring us down. As I got into a separate car to leave, I saw that they were getting into their van to follow me. Luckily we managed to lose them.
When we asked BP about the men, they replied that they didn't know who they were. They speculated that the men may have been part of the Presidential Protection squad, who are sometimes employed at BP events where t-shirts are handed out. They said the men were probably following Mirvarie not us.
Mirvarie had lost her job, she and her daughter have suffered several beatings, which they believe are linked to their anti-corruption work. In any case, the episode gave us a taste of what a dangerous business it is to talk about corruption in Azerbaijan, the sixth most corrupt country in the world.
