Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani government should release two bloggers who have been detained since July 2009 as the result of a staged fight designed to frame them, Human Rights Watch said. The bloggers, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, lost their appeal against their conviction on Wednesday.
In a hearing that lasted two and a half hours, the Baku Appeal Court upheld the trial court's decision in November, convicting Milli and Hajizade of hooliganism and inflicting minor bodily harm. The Appeal Court did not examine the two bloggers' central contention, that the attack that led to their conviction had been deliberately staged to frame them.
"Today's ruling is yet another setback for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan," said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The case is blatantly part of a pattern of prosecutions in which the authorities have brought trumped-up charges against outspoken journalists and activists in Azerbaijan."
Milli was sentenced to two years in prison and Hajizade to two and a half years. Milli is a blogger for an online television site and a coordinator of exchange student alumni. Hajizade is a video blogger. Both had satirized the government in blog postings, including on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, in the weeks preceding the attack. *