Published on 22 January 2010
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A Baku court should have begun today to hear the appeal of imprisoned bloggers Adnan Hadjizade and Emin Milli but, as happened so many times during the original trial, the hearing was adjourned, although this time it was at the request of the defence. The court is now scheduled to start hearing their appeal on 6 February.
Reporters Without Borders joined the Adnan Hadjizade and Emin Milli Support Committee in organising a rally at 3 p.m. today outside the embassy of Azerbaijan on Avenue d’Iéna in Paris (see photos) in support of the two bloggers, who were convicted on 11 November on trumped-up charges for criticising the government and corruption, and were sentenced to 24 and 30 months in prison respectively.
Around 30 people, including Hadjizade’s fiancée, Parvana Persiani, took part in the Paris demonstration to press the Azerbaijani authorities to free them at once and overturn their conviction. An appeal for their release was handed in to embassy officials. See pictures below.
Similar support demonstrations took place in London (see last picture) and Baku.
Reporters Without Borders hails these international protests, which serve to show the Azerbaijani government that it cannot continue to detain these two bloggers unjustly without further damage to the country’s international image.
The press freedom organisation also expresses its exasperation at the slowness with which the judicial proceedings have been conducted from the outset. It is indicative of a refusal to allow serious examination of the charges brought against the two bloggers, as well as an attempt to intimidate all government critics.
More information: http://www.rsf.org/Court-refuses-to-free-two-bloggers.html
He is the editor of Erk, the last opposition newspaper in Uzbekistan until it was banned by the authorities in 1993, and he was jailed on 18 August 1999 in the wave of repression after the failed assassination attempt on President Islam Karimov in Tashkent on 16 February 1999.
