Cases & Projects
MLDI and partners intervene in Azerbaijan bloggers case at European Court
Posted on:
6. July 2011 Two bloggers in Azerbaijan uploaded a satirical video featuring an interview with a violin-playing donkey onto Youtube. In response they were beaten up - and then arrested and imprisoned for affray.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative, Media Rights Institute Azerbaijan and Index on Censorship have intervened at the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Hajizade and Abdullayev v. Azerbaijan.
The case originated from criminal proceedings that resulted in the imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Abdullayev, two Azeri youth movement activists. They had uploaded a satirical video onto Youtube and were discussing this and the situation of freedom of expression generally with friends in a restaurant when they were attacked and beaten up. They reported the attack to the police who, after investigating the incident, charged them with ‘hooliganism’ and causing bodily harm. They were prosecuted and convicted and, in November 2009, sentenced to two years and two years and six months’ imprisonment respectively. In November 2010, they were released on parole.
Adnan Hajizade and Emin Abdullayev have now applied to the European Court of Human Rights.
MLDI's intervention points out that theirs is not an isolated incident. We are concerned at the increasing use of violence and abusive lawsuits to silence critical voices in Azerbaijan, and have requested the Court to consider the case against this background and order Azerbaijan to stop violating the rights of bloggers and journalists.
Our intervention can be downloaded by clicking here.
Hajizade's and Abdullayev's video, featuring an interview with a donkey, can be viewed here:
MLDI gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mark Stephens and his team at Finers Stephens Innocent in this case.
Click here for a list of media freedom violations in 2010 and 2011.
MLDI supported the defence of Hajizade and Abdullayev in the domestic proceedings
