AZERBAIJAN: Second of two bloggers whose imprisonment last year provoked an outcry among rights groups has been released

Record ID: 218005

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Second of two bloggers whose imprisonment last year provoked an outcry among rights groups has been released
  • Date: 22nd November 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) EMIN MILLI, AZERI BLOGGER AND JOURNALIST, SAYING: "Why was I arrested? To be honest nobody knows the whole truth. But I think it's because I have been telling the truth, I said what I thought and I did what i wanted to do." EXTERIOR OF EMIN'S HOUSE AZERI BLOGGER AND JOURNALIST, ADNAN HAJIZADE, WHO WAS RELEASED ON THURSDAY (NOVEMBER 18) ENTERING EMIN'
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA47BC1YLXCAJEIGZZT6JCTFR3H
  • Story Text: Azerbaijan on Friday (November 19) released the second of two bloggers whose imprisonment last year provoked an outcry among rights groups which said they were punished for satirising the government.
    In September U.S. President Barack Obama added his voice to calls for the release of 27-year-old Adnan Hajizade and 31-year-old Emin Milli, arrested in July 2009 and convicted of hooliganism over an alleged brawl in a Baku restaurant.
    Milli got a warm welcome from his family and friends as he arrived home on Friday afternoon.
    "Why was I arrested? To be honest nobody knows the whole truth. But I think it's because I have been telling the truth, I said what I thought and I did what i wanted to do," Milli told Reuters at his family home.
    Supporters of Emin and Adnan say they were victims of an unprovoked attack, jailed as a warning to other activists, after posting a satirical swipe at authorities in the former Soviet republic in which Hajizade held a fake news conference dressed as a donkey.
    Adnan Hajizade was released by the Baku appeals court on Thursday (November 18), and Milli joined him on Friday. The ruling did not overturn their convictions.
    Soon after Emin arrived at home, Adnan came to visit him and meet with common friends.
    "The official reason [for the arrest] is hooliganism, but we reject it. Neither I nor Amin are criminals or hooligans, we are peace-loving people, we advocate non-violence and pacifism. And most likely we were arrested because of our social activities and because of our opinions of what is going on in our country," said Adnan Hajizade at Emin's house.
    Their cases cut to the heart of the West's balancing act with the oil-producing country, an energy supplier to Europe and a transit route for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but where rights groups and Western diplomats say democratic freedoms are shrinking under President Ilham Aliyev who succeeded his father, long-serving leader Heydar Aliyev, in 2003.
    The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) welcomed the release of the bloggers and urged Azerbaijan to also free outspoken journalist Eynulla Fatullayev.
    The European Court of Human Rights ruled in April that Fatullayev's 2007 conviction on charges of terrorism, inciting ethnic hatred and tax evasion was illegal.
    An Azeri court upheld the European ruling in July but handed Fatullayev another 30 months on a drugs charge that his supporters say was fabricated to keep him behind bars.
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