New York, August 27, 2009–Azerbaijani authorities should drop all charges against video bloggers who satirized the government, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Emin Milli, 30, who runs an online video blog known as ANTV, and Adnan Hajizade, 26, a video blogger and coordinator of the Azerbaijani youth movement Ol! (Yes!), posted video sketches that criticized government policies and social issues. They interviewed local residents and posted their opinions online, sharing them through networking sites YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and others. Among issues discussed on their blogs were education, corruption, and the poor infrastructure in Azerbaijan, according to multiple news reports and CPJ sources.
Baku police detained Milli and Hajizade on July 8, after the bloggers reported that they had been physically attacked at a local restaurant. Milli and Hajizade were debating politics with friends when two unknown men interrupted their conversation and started a brawl, they said. When the bloggers went to report the incident, they were arrested for “hooliganism”–a criminal charge that carries up to five years in jail. The two have been in custody since they were initially detained. A second charge, “inflicting minor bodily harm,” was added on Monday. If convicted on both charges, the bloggers face up to seven years in prison. A trial is scheduled to start on September 4 at the Sabail District Court in Baku.
“These charges against Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade are politicized–we call on Azerbaijani authorities to release them immediately,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator
Both domestic and international rights groups have condemned the arrest of Milli and Hajizade as staged by authorities in retaliation for their blogs’ critical content. In a number of entries, Milli and Hajizade interviewed local residents and filmed street gatherings in protest of official policies. According to multiple sources, a satirical video the bloggers produced and posted on YouTube in late June was used as a pretext to incarcerate them. The video criticized Azerbaijan’s alleged import of donkeys from abroad at excessively high prices. The video sketch depicts a pseudo press conference, at which Hajizade, wearing a donkey suit, talks to a group of Azerbaijani “journalists”; Milli reportedly filmed.
Two days after Milli and Hajizade went to report the Baku restaurant incident, the Sabail District Court sentenced them to a two-month preliminary detention in a closed hearing, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.