BAKU, Azerbaijan– On Wednesday, November 11, the Sabail District Court of Baku convicted Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade of hooliganism and inflicting minor bodily harm, sentencing each of them to two and a half years in prison. Milli is a blogger for an online television site and a coordinator of exchange student alumni. Hajizade is a video blogger. They were charged in relation to an incident in July in which they say they were attacked.

The defendants allege that on July 8, they had been discussing their youth movement in a Baku restaurant when two strangers approached them, demanded that they stop discussing such matters, and attacked and injured them. That evening, Milli and Hajizade went to the police station, filed reports about the attack, and requested medical assistance.

Human Rights Watch contends that the restaurant fight was staged to provide grounds for a bogus case against the bloggers.  Human Rights Watch further asserts that the convictions come amid deteriorating media freedoms in Azerbaijan as journalists and media representatives have been harassed, threatened, or attacked for their professional activities.  According to Giorgi Gogia, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, “There is a longstanding pattern of Azerbaijani officials filing trumped-up charges against journalists to punish them for critical or satirical comment.”  And in the United States, State Department officials condemned the court decision, calling it “a step backwards for Azerbaijan’s progress towards democratic reform.”

The bloggers maintain that they were arrested and convicted because of their online criticism of the authorities.  Isakhan Ashurov, the attorney for Adnan Hajizade, said his client was charged for political reasons and that he had not been involved in violence. Various civil society organizations in Azerbaijan have expressed anger at the sentences.

Milli and Hajizade, who have been in prison since July 8, plan to appeal the verdict, but in the meantime “The imprisonment of Milli and Hajizade sends a chilling message to bloggers and any sharp government critic in Azerbaijan,” Gogia said. “It reflects growing government hostility towards the freedom of expression.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch- Azerbaijan: Young Bloggers Jailed– 12 November 2009

BBC News- Azeri Bloggers Given Prison Terms– 11 November 2009

New York Times- Azerbaijan: Bloggers Convicted– 11 November 2009