Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, welcomed the release of the jailed bloggers. -This had been a long-standing request of my Office and many international organizations and non-governmental organizations world wide, said Mijatovic.
Jailed opposition blogger Emin Milli was freed by an Azerbaijani court one day after releasing fellow blogger Adnan Hajizade from prison. Speaking to RFE/RL, Milli said he hoped his case would "lead to a better protection of human rights in Azerbaijan and will boost the confidence of our youth in its own strength." "My conviction was the result of an unfair trial. I still don’t understand the logic of it, it was simply unfair," Milli said. "Many people face injustice but not everyone gets so much attention. When such a minor case gets so much attention it contributes to the development of society." Yet, despite the circumstances surrounding Adnan Hajizade’s arrest, as well as conditional nature of his release, when asked by RFE’s Azerbaijan service if he will continue to blog, Hajizade’s answer was simple. “Yes, yes,” he said as he left the courtroom. “Video blogging.“
Background
The Human Rights House Network has been closely following the developments in Azerbaijan regarding freedoms of expression and assembly for several years. HRHN has observed a certain pattern testifying to the significant deterioration of fundamental rights in the country.
The two video bloggers from Azerbaijan were taken into police custody on 8 July, 2009 on “hooliganism”. On 19 August this year, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ rulings, which convicted Milli and Hajizade of hooliganism and sentenced them to two and a half years and two years of imprisonment respectively.
The arrest of the bloggers was seen as a deliberated act to silence criticism as part of the broader government campaign to stifle the dissent, as both bloggers had a reputation for protests against corruption, restrictions on freedom of expression and the referendum to abolish presidential term limits. They were imprisoned a week after they released a satirical video mocking the government’s imports of donkeys, which gave them the nickname “the donkey bloggers”.
The videoblog was thought to be the major cause for their arrest. HRHF has taken part in international joint campaigns and issuing several statements. The last one, adopted at the annual meeting of the HRHN in September, was also read in the plenary at the OSCE Review Conference in Warsaw in October 2010. During the review of Azerbaijan to the Un Human Rights Committee in July 2009, HRHN and Azerbaijani members of the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders called for the release of the bloggers.
Relevant links:
See Milli’s and Hajizade’s Youtube video expressing tyheir gratitude to all those who worked for their release during their detention here.
