Azernews.Az

The sentencing of two Azerbaijani bloggers to prison terms on charges of hooliganism has raised concerns among international organizations.
Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, described the convictions as political.
"These new imprisonments cement Azerbaijan's image as the pre-eminent jailer of journalists in the OSCE region. Five journalists are currently in prison, several of them on clearly trumped-up charges following organized provocations and unfair trials," Haraszti claimed in a letter to Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov posted on the OSCE website.
A Baku court on Wednesday sentenced Emin Milli, an ANTV Online TV blogger and coordinator in the youth organization Alumni Network, to two and a half years in prison, while video blogger Adnan Hajizade was sentenced to two years in prison.
"The severity of the sentences for these young bloggers and other journalists who have criticized the authorities, including the President and the Interior Minister, is self-revealingly political," Haraszti alleged.
The journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan also include Eynulla Fatullayev, the editor-in-chief of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani-language daily Gundalik Azerbaijan newspapers, and the editor of opposition newspaper Azadlig Ganimat Zahid. The two are serving prison terms on charges such as posing a terror threat, tax evasion and hooliganism.
"I hope that the appeals court will reverse the decision and release Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade as soon as possible. This will demonstrate to the international community that Azerbaijan takes seriously the OSCE media freedom commitments it has taken upon itself," Haraszti said.
Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said in a statement that he was "concerned about the very harsh sentences" imposed on the two bloggers. Jagland noted that, shortly before the July incident which resulted in their imprisonment, the two young people produced a satirical YouTube video, in which they implicitly criticized the government. "This sequence of events will have an inevitable chilling effect on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan."
"The authorities should very critically review their attitude towards media and civil society and public criticism in general, and bring it in line with their obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and a party to the European Convention on Human Rights," the statement said.
Gunter Nooke, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, issued a statement in Berlin on Wednesday claiming that, with the convictions of Milli and Hajizade, there are "two new political prisoners in Azerbaijan."
"It seems that in all the talks conducted at bilateral level by the EU, the OSCE and the Council of Europe regarding the events surrounding the two young men, Baku only pretended that it would see to a transparent and fair trail," Nooke alleged.*