The Voice of Mirza Xazar

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

Index: EUR 55/006/2009

17 July 2009

Azerbaijan: Two youth activists arrested

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the latest development in the continued clampdown against civil society and media activists in Azerbaijan. Emin Milli (real name Emin Abdullayev) and Adnan Hacizade were arrested on 8 July on a charge of 'hooliganism', and remanded in custody for two months on 10 July. Amnesty International believes that both may have been targeted for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Emin Milli and Adnan Hacizade are well-known youth activists who have used online networking tools, including Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, to disseminate information about the socio-political situation in Azerbaijan. Emin Milli is also a co-founder of a youth group named Alumni Network while Adnan Hacizade is a coordinator of the youth movement known as OL!

According to information available t Amnesty International, on 8 July 2009 Emin Milli and Adnan Hacizade were dining with civil society activists in a restaurant in the capital, Baku. While they were discussing online activism, two well-built men were said to have approached their group, demanded that they stop talking about politics, and assaulted Emin Milli and Adnan Hacizade. The assault reportedly resulted in injuries to the two youths, including the breaking of Adnan Hacizade's nose and injury to Emin Milli's leg.

Following the events, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade went to the police to lodge a complaint. However, rather than accepting their complaint about their assault, the police detained first Adnan Hacizade and then Emin Milli as the latter reportedly refused to leave the police station without his fellow activist. Both are said to have been charged with "hooliganism carried out by a group of people", which carries up to five years' imprisonment.

Amnesty International is concerned at reports that the police did not carry out a thorough and impartial investigation of the events; among other things they failed to interview potential witnesses. Despite this, the alleged assailants were reportedly discharged.

Of further concern are reports that the authorities have not respected the rights of the two detained activists guaranteed by the law of Azerbaijan and international human rights standards. In particular, according to information received by Amnesty International, Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hacizade were denied access to their lawyers until the afternoon of 9 July. During this time, however, Adnan Hacizade was reportedly questioned by the authorities.

Azerbaijani human rights organizations have expressed concern that the charges brought have been fabricated to punish the two youths for their online activism critical of the government. This is not the first case in which the Azerbaijani authorities have used criminal charges to silence peaceful dissenting voices. For instance, prisoner of conscience Qanimat Zahid, the editor-in-chief of opposition newspaper Azadliq, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on charges of hooliganism and assault in March 2008. Several other journalists have also been imprisoned on questionable charges in the past few years. Amnesty International recently highlighted its concerns on the increasingly limited sphere for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan in the report Azerbaijan: Independent journalists under siege(AI Index: EUR/55/004/2009).

Amnesty International considers that if Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade are being detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression, their arrest and detention would violate Azerbaijan's obligations to respect their right to freedom of expression. In such a situation, Amnesty International would regard them as prisoners of conscience, who should be released immediately and unconditionally.

Public Document

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK

www.amnesty.org

Emin Milli

by TOL
17 July 2009

The arrest of two Internet activists is worrying for those young Azerbaijanis who choose not to follow the official line.

The use of social media – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube – in organizing and galvanizing protest against the presidential election in Iran has been a hot media topic of late, full of hyperbole as well as misinterpretation. But a short distance to the north, in neighboring Azerbaijan, the growing power of social and new media to mobilize opposition has also become readily apparent. And while Azerbaijani officials are not nearly as savvy in the online world as their Iranian counterparts, a recent incident shows they may finally be waking up to the new possibilities and clamping down.

On 8 July, two young Internet activists, Adnan Hajizada and Emin Milli, were sitting in a Baku restaurant talking politics with friends when, they say, two unknown men sitting at a table nearby attacked them. Hajizada received a broken nose and Milli a leg injury, but when they went to report the incident and file a complaint, they were instead accused of a criminal act and the two other men released. After an initial trip to the hospital, human rights organizations say, they were held for 48 hours without further medical care or access to their lawyer. A judge then ordered two months of pretrial detention for Hajizada and Milli, who have been charged with hooliganism, a crime punishable by a sentence of one to five years in prison.

Adnan Hajizade

While evidence has yet to surface that the initial incident was some sort of planned provocation, the subsequent behavior of the authorities has sparked widespread suspicion among youth activists, the opposition, and international organizations of a political subtext to the incident. Those who know the detainees say the accusation that they attacked anyone is absurd; “everyone knows these are non-violent people that couldn’t hurt a fly,” one youth activist told TOL. Neither Hajizada nor Milli is a prominent member of a political party, but they have both been thorns in the side of the authorities in their own ways, especially as pioneers in the use of social media to spread dissatisfaction with the state’s treatment of young people and other controversial policies.

Milli, 30, has been the more outspoken of the two. He has worked for several international organizations in Azerbaijan, including as an advisor to the Council of Europe on the issue of political prisoners, and, in 2005, helped found the Alumni youth network. In recent years, he has spoken out publicly, at home and abroad, against government restrictions on freedom of expression and the decision to hold a referendum on removing presidential term limits (since approved, in March). And as an active blogger with thousands of friends on Facebook, he has not been afraid to use online tools to share his views.

Though the son of a prominent opposition politician (the one-time ambassador to Russia), the 26-year-old Hajizada has preferred more subtle critiques, less confrontational. His day job has been in the oil company BP’s public relations department, but on the side he also played a key role in launching the well-known OL! youth movement. He has also generated a loyal following for his blog posts and video creations.

Over the past few days, many have been pointing to one of Hajizada’s latest videos as the trigger for the recent arrests. The mock press conference features Hajizada dressed in a donkey suit, casually answering questions from a group of serious-faced journalists. The clever parody pokes fun at the government’s reported purchase of expensive donkeys from abroad. He talks about the higher standards of living for donkeys in Azerbaijan, why he demanded such a high price (he speaks three languages and plays the violin), and finds time to mention a restrictive new NGO law pending in parliament.

More likely, however, the authorities had been closely following online activists since the events of this May. Many young people were outraged at the time over the government’s actions in the wake of a mass shooting at a Baku university. Not only did officials refuse to release much information about the killings (sparking rumors of a cover-up), but they also rejected calls to declare a day of mourning for the murdered students or at least tone down a lavish, annual celebration of Heydar Aliev’s birthday (the former president and father of the current president). In response, thousands of young people organized online through social networks, creating protest groups and writing petitions.

The online dissent has yet to translate into mass demonstrations in the “real” world, but the two men’s arrests would seem to indicate that the authorities are worried. Compared with pesky NGOs (those that manage to satisfy the extremely stringent rules on registration), officials have fewer legal weapons against bloggers and loose online networks, and unlike with the traditional opposition, the state can’t use the massive powers in the hands of the executive branch to largely squeeze these voices out of the political process. News of young bloggers being thrown into prison, possibly over a satirical video, also travels worldwide a lot better than the jailing of grizzled political veterans. And for a government that has made spreading Internet connectivity and computer literacy a priority, the choice to limit access and start widespread banning of sites probably doesn’t come into consideration.

As so often happens in the post-Soviet space, in all likelihood the autocrats in Azerbaijan will look to Russia for a list of “good” practices and lessons learned in fighting Internet enemies of the state. As detailed by TOL and other international media over the past few years, the Kremlin has made a science of crowding out Internet criticism.

Popular methods including leaning on Internet service providers to remove “offensive” material, creating friendly blogger brigades – some voluntary and some paid – and employing vaguely worded extremist laws. In early June, news emerged of a new “blogger school” set up by a Kremlin-connected think tank, the Fund for Effective Politics. The group’s mission? “To teach young people how to defend Russia’s interests in cyberspace,” according to The Christian Science Monitor, which reported the story.

One of the final frames of Hajizada’s video – after the “donkey” says he has to leave for a meeting of the nation’s donkeys and the press conference ends with a standing ovation – showed a question that has turned out to being particularly prescient for its author and his friend, Emin Milli: “There will be someone to protect donkeys’ civil rights, but what about human civil rights?”

source: Transition Online

 

Minister of Internal Affairs

AZ 1001, 7 H.Hajiyev

Republic of Azerbaijan

Fax: (99412) 492 45 90

 

Oslo, 11. July 2009

 

The Human Rights House Foundation, the Rafto Foundation, Norway, The Human Rights House Azerbaijan, the Human Rights House Sarajevo, the Human Rights House Skopje, The Belarusian Human Rights House in exile, the Armenian Helsinki Association and the Human Rights Center Georgia condemn the unlawful detention and call for an immediate release of Emin Milli (Abdullayev), Coordinator of Alumni Network (AN) Youth Organization and leader of ANTV Online TV, and one of OL Youth Organization’s coordinators, well-known video-blogger Adnan Hajizade. According to the information received by the Human Rights House Azerbaijan, Emin Milli (Abdullayev) and Adnan Hajizade were detained on 8 July 2009.

 

The Human Rights House Foundation and ++… call for an immediate release of Emin Milli (Abdullayev) Adnan Hajizade from detention, which contradicts Article 5 of the European Convention to which Azerbaijan is a party. We would also like to remind that according to Article 11.1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, "everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others."

 

Background information:

 

On 8 July, at approximately 8:00 p.m. Baku time, Emin Milli (Abdullayev) and Adnan Hajizade were sitting at a table in a restaurant along with several other young adults, discussing the activity of youth organizations related to the internet, when two people that looked like sportsmen came up to them, insulted them, and demanded that they stop talking about politics. Then they attacked Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, causing physical injuries. The restaurant staff and other youth interfered to save them from attackers.

 

Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli sustained several injuries. Adnan Hajizade’s nose was broken and he sustained bruising on his face, around his eyes and on other parts of his body. It is said that Emin Milli sustained several injuries to his face, and possibly a crack in one of the bones in his foot.

 

Victims Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade appealed to police immediately and asked for medical assistance at the police department, however they were not provided with any assistance. Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade demanded a lawyer and their lawyers went to the police department to represent the youth, however police did not let allow the lawyers to see Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade. Although they appealed to police as victims, police detained Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade under article 221.2.1 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code after five hours of interrogation and freed the attackers.

 

Police have not provided any official information about the detention of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, and for 17 hours the youth were deprived of the opportunity to meet with their lawyers. Although the incident occurred at 8 p.m. on 8 July, the lawyers only finally met with Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade at 3 p.m. on 9 July.

 

According to the latest information, the judge has approved a 2-month preliminary; the lawyer has a right to appeal against it.

 

 

We urge the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release the detained youth activists Emin Milli (Abdullayev) and Adnan Hajizade and to investigate the beatings of them.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Norwegian Human Rights House (on behalf of the following NGOs):

- The Human Rights House Foundation

The Rafto Foundation, Bergen

Human Rights House Azerbaijan

The Belarusian Human Rights House in exile in Vilnius (Lithuania)

Human Rights House Sarajevo (on behalf of the following NGOs):

- Association of Female Citizens "Renaissance"

- Foundation CURE

- Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina

- Regional Co-ordinator for Youth Groups

- Serb Civic Council - Movement for Equality - The Council of the Sarajevo Canton

- Woman and Society Centre

Human Rights House Skopje (on behalf of the following NGOs):

- Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI)

- The First Children’s Embassy in the World – "Megjashi"

- Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia

- Macedonian Women’s Rights Centre (MWRC) - Shelter Centre

- Polio Plus – Movement Against Disability

Armenian Helsinki Association

Human Rights Center, Georgia

Copies have been sent to:

* Delegation of the European Commission to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan
*
* Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Council of Europe
*
* UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
*
* The OSCE/ODIHR, Human Rights Focal Point, Warsaw
*
* The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Azerbaijan
*
* The Human Rights House Network

With warm regards,

Fuad Hasanov
Director, Democracy Monitor