Once again, Azerbaijan has been ranked 166 in the Reporters without Borders yearly World Press Freedom Index.

The index, which ranks countries’ media situation based off of categories such as pluralism, media independence and abuses, found no positive improvement in Azerbaijan to warrant a vertical movement on the list.

At 166 out of 180, the index puts Azerbaijani press in the bottom ten percent of the world, which places the nation in the rubric of a ‘very serious situation’.

‘Unrelenting war against the last critical voices’

Referencing attacks against independent journalists, including, ‘harassment, beatings, blackmail or bribes’ as well as imprisonment on ‘absurd grounds’, Reporters without Borders described the oppression from authorities on media an ‘unrelenting war’.

While neighboring nations such as Iran, Turkey and Russia also received abysmal scores, Azerbaijan continues to have the lowest score amongst its Caucasian neighbors, as Georgia came in at 60 and Armenia, which saw a 19 point leap to 61.

Norway topped the list, with its Scandinavian neighbors Finland and Sweden close behind. Turkmenistan replaced North Korea at the bottom of the index.