US embassy thought two bloggers’ arrest was suspicious

Cable 09BAKU557 A confidential cable from the US embassy in Baku on 9 July 2009, posted on the WikiLeaks website on 26 August, gave a detailed account of the previous day’s arrest of bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade. Milli, one of the founders of “The Alumni Network” movement, and Hajizade, a video-blogger and member of the apolitical “OL! Youth Movement,” were detained when they complained about being attacked by two men in restaurant. The real reason for their arrest was their criticism of the authorities and the fact that they had made a video making fun of corrupt politicians. Hajizade was freed on 18 November 2010 and Milli was freed one day later. The cable said: “The timing of the attack is especially strange because Milli was to have worked July 10 as the interpreter for the PACE Special Rapporteur for Political Prisoners (Christoph Strasser).” It also noted that, even though it was hard to prove a connection, the attack had come shortly after the publication of the satirical video. The cable said embassy officers had tried to visit the two bloggers in prison but were not allowed. It said a police officer blamed the restaurant incident on Milli and Hajizade. He claimed that the two bloggers had been drinking and talking loudly and had caused offence to two women, triggering an altercation with the women’s two male companions, who had ended up hitting them. The embassy cable noted that the two bloggers did not receive medical treatment for their injuries during their first night in detention. It also pointed out that physical intimidation of opposition activists was not a new phenomenon in Azerbaijan, which is ranked 152nd out of 178 countries on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.