Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada were assaulted and jailed after posting a satirical video on the Web. Credit: RFE/RL
An Azerbaijani court today rejected a complaint filed by jailed bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada about mistreatment by police. The hearing, held behind closed doors, concerned Milli and Hajizada’s detention after they filed a complaint against two assailants.
The bloggers were attacked and arrested after a youth group, Ol, posted a video in which a donkey holds a press conference detailing the wonderful life donkeys have in Azerbaijan. The video was a satire of the government which local media had reported as paying exorbitant prices to import donkeys.
RFE/RL reports that the U.S. mission to OSCE and EU expressed concerns about the case at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna today. And in the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, all 27 EU ambassadors voiced disquiet “about the condition of human rights in Azerbaijan.
The bloggers’ arrests were condemned by media watchdog groups, but surprised civil society activists because they targeted “a small, well-educated and relatively affluent group that had flocked to Internet news sources.”
“This is saying to that cream of the crop of young people that you can’t express yourself,” said Miriam Lanskoy, a senior program officer at the National Endowment for Democracy. “This is a country that is really trying to hold onto these kids. This is also a message to them.” Hajizada’s organization is a grantee of the NED.
Azerbaijani youth activists set up a Youth Rights’ Protection Movement, which has attracted about 1,000 on-line supporters. “A goal of this movement is to unify active young people, not only as groups, but also as individuals,” said OL board member Parvana Persiani. “These people understand that if they keep silent today and continue to live as usual, tomorrow it will be their turn.”
Hajizade’s arrest prompted protests from his employer, the British oil giant BP, prior to a recent visit to Britain by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. His government has become increasingly authoritarian over recent months, closing independent media outlets and threatening curbs on civil society groups.
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