Epress.am News from Armenia
Emin Milli (pictured, left), one of two “donkey bloggers” arrested on dubious charges in Azerbaijan in 2009, has just been released from prison.
Yesterday, media reported that fellow blogger Adnan Hajizade (pictured, right), 27, was released, and today, Twitter and other online platforms are buzzing with news of Emin’s release.
The two were convicted on hooliganism charges in November 2009, with Hajizade sentenced to two years in prison and Milli to two-and-a-half years.
The charges related to a scuffle in a restaurant but the bloggers insisted they were a politically motivated attempt to silence their criticism of Azerbaijan’s authorities.
They were arrested shortly after satirizing the government with an internet video that showed a donkey giving a press conference.
Their jailing drew widespread criticism and accusations that Azerbaijani authorities were trying to stifle free speech. Foreign leaders, including US President Barack Obama, had called for the bloggers to be freed.
Hajizade, co-founder of the OL! (To Be) youth movement, and Milli, co-founder of online television channel AN Network, are both Western-educated children of opposition activists at the centre of a growing circle of young people using the Internet to criticise Azerbaijan’s authorities, reports AFP.
Using sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the activists posted news updates, critical essays and satirical videos, offering an alternative to Azerbaijan’s mainstream television and newspapers, which critics allege are under strict government control.
In his first comments after being freed, Hajizade told RFE/RL he was “not a criminal” and called for the release of his colleague, Emin Milli.