The defense plans to appeal the verdict in higher instances till the European Court of Human Rights. International community has strongly condemned the case as political one and Amnesty International has already adopted the bloggers as "prisoners of conscience."

Emin Milli, 30, and Adnan Hajizade, 26, were assaulted and beaten while dining in a downtown Baku restaurant and then detained for hooliganism on early July this year.

Note: this piece was posted with a back date

Photo from Aztelekom.org

Starting on 12 August, Azerbaijani transportation authorities have begun to dismantle Baku’s celebrated, but rapidly degrading suburban railway system, which was founded by famous Swedish family of the Nobels and went through several major overhauls in its history.

Constructed between 1878 and 1880, a short private railway line started to carry petrol between a district of oil fields and a district of oil refineries in suburbs of Baku. But, it was from this small line that new railroads extended to Tbilisi and Batumi (1883) and connected Caucasus to the railway network of the Russian Empire (1900). In 1926, the first decade of the Soviet rule, Baku’s suburban railway became the first line to be electrified in whole Union.

Construction of new lines and reconstruction works of 1930s were disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, but at the end of it, with a major boost of a workforce of German war prisoners, the railways got a major overhaul. The commission of new lines in 1950 effectively turned Baku’s suburban railways into the Absheron Circular Railroad, which covered almost all suburban settlements in central parts of Absheron peninsula. In late 1950s, three offshoots of the Circular Railroad connected both western and eastern parts of the peninsula to the existing network.

The railway quickly became celebrated, both for its vast coverage and easiness to reach. It was the way through which hundreds from nearby villages commuted to industrial Baku every day, and through which hundreds of Baku residents traveled to their suburban dachas and beaches in northern Absheron in weekends and summers. And the railway stations themselves, built in best forms and practices of Stalin empire were considered chef d’oeuvres of local architecture.

However, since the second oil boom reached post-soviet, independent Azerbaijan, paradoxally, state of public transportation has been in constant decline. Long neglected and underfunded, both tram and trolleybus networks of Baku were quickly dismantled leaving the streets and roads for motor cars only. Now, it seems that what the first oil boom of XIX-XX centuries has built – Baku’s suburban railways – will fall victim to the second oil boom. The Government is already planning to build new highways instead of dismantled railways.

In the same time, hundreds, maybe thousands are trapped in what can be effectively called the disruption of the public transportation as well as a destruction of a heritage – residents of several suburban settlements, including the biggest one – Mashtagha, are not only deprived of their easiest way of commuting, but their travel expenses have risen ten-to-twenty fold. Besides, residents of such remotest settlements as Albaliliq (former Vyshnyovka) had and have no alternative than walking kilometers to a nearest bus stop in a nearest town.

I remember when we used to have a dacha in Albaliliq, how we were solving our transport problems – my father was just stopping trains for us – trains running in the Absheron Circular Railroad. And here it is, my memory from childhood, and if you are a true Bakuvian, you can even cry.

"To see your city destroyed before your own eyes is not a pain that can be described and put to words. It turns you sour or was that bitter, it makes something snap in you and you lose whatever hope you had." – Salam Pax once wrote about Baghdad for other circumstances, but I continue to recall it constantly these days – "Undone by your own hands. Close your doors. Shut your eyes. Hope the black clouds of this ugliness do not reach you."

I clearly remember when he was elected – people were talking  whether he could oust Ken Livingstone from the office, what an extravagant person would rule London, and how he was in fact of a Turkish descent – his great-grandfather or so was a top Ottoman official brought down from a train and lynched by an angry mob for his cooperation with the British.

Well, it seems that I am mistaken! Because, according to Azeri media, the Mayor of London Ian Luder is currently visiting Baku and holding meetings with government officials:

The Public Television of Azerbaijan reports that "Mayor of London is in Baku with official visit" – moreover, "the Mayor of London is accompanying representatives of fourteen leading companies in different fields of financial sector". Here is private Khazar TV reporting the news – "Mayor of London in Baku" and "The President has received the Mayor of London". And of course, Azeri Press Agency:

“The United Kingdom and Azerbaijan value each other as a long-term partner”, said Mayor of London Alderman Ian Luder at the press conference on the results of his visit to Baku, APA reports.

However, in judiciary practice, such defendants usually get released on bail or end with a house arrest. According to law expert Erkin Gadirli, two months of pre-trial detention is the maximum period that a law-breacher can receive, and this type of detention is usually conditioned with disturbing criminal past of detainees, their liaisons inside and outside of the prison, as well as degree of their dangerousness, possibility of their escape, degree of graveness of the crime, etc. Surely, with no criminal records or behaviour, Emin and Adnan recieved the harshest verdict possible.

Even visiting German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, Günter Nooke was not allowed to attend the trial. The Chairman of Sabail District Court Justice Gulzar Rzayeva refused to let in Günter Nooke or anybody else by pointing out that the trial is held behind closed doors in accordance with Azerbaijani laws. While around 150 supporters of Emin and Adnan, as well as residents of neighborhood, international and local NGO representatives, foreign diplomats and Mr. Nooke waited outside at the tightly closed door of the court house, the court sentenced both activists to two months of detention in presence of indicted and their lawyers, but refusing to listen to witnesses and bringing in the ‘victims’ of the alleged hooliganism act.

During these two months while Emin and Adnan are in detention, the investigation has to be concluded and their case brought before the judge. If the investigation is not concluded, their detention period can be extended for additional two months. While detained, they won’t be able to receive any guests, instead of their lawyers. They will be held in a new detention center in a town of Kurdokhani, a small town in an hour’s drive from Baku.

Emin Milli is one of prominent civil society activists in Azerbaijan and helped to forge a powerful but flexible Alumni Network (AN) – an incredible pre-Facebook era social network and strong mobilization force for country’s youth.  Four days ago, on 4th July, Emin was a speaker in a Heinrich Böll Foundation roundtable dedicated to a democratization process in Azerbaijan, where he strongly criticized the Azerbaijani government for its anti-democratic practices.

Adnan Haji-zadeh is one of the founders of OL! Youth Movement, a liberal entity that declares the principles of modernity, non-violence and tolerance. Adnan himself is a pioneer of video-blogging in Azerbaijan and is famous for his video reportages covering problems and challenges of youth and posted in Youtube.

Baku based Institute of Reporters’ Freedom and Safety has called Emin and Adnan’s arrest ‘politically motivated’. Visiting Deputy Secretary of U.S. State Department, James Steinberg has told RFE/RL Azeri Service that they keep this issue under constant attention, while Günter Nooke warned that this incident ‘can create a scandal beyond the borders of Azerbaijan’ and ‘damage her image’.
 

Yesterday, on 9 July, representatives of civil society and youth groups, as well as political parties have held a ‘protest forum’ to both inform the society about the incident and coordinate activities aimed at release of Emin and Adnan. While attending it, I found it characterized with ‘overcrowded hall, furious speakers, plenty of civil society and party leaders, foreign press [and] no local TVs’. Indeed, opened with an angry tirade by forum chair and veteran human rights activist Leyla Yunus, the ‘protest forum’ went through fierce discussions and bitter accusation of all responsible for this incident.

Participants decided to sign an open appeal to the President of Azerbaijan to help release Emin and Adnan, while Leyla Yunus herself sent an open letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs (temporary link).

The German ambassador talked about irony of the incident –on 10 July, the German Human Rights Commissioner was due to visit Azerbaijan and it was scheduled that Emin Milli would be his interpreter. However, as the forum managed to learn from informed sources, on 10 July, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada were to stand trial for ‘hooliganism’ charges at Sabayel District Court of Baku.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has started to tell their own version. Ministry spokesman Sadig Gyozalov has disclosed the names of the ‘sportsmen’ who have "been beaten" by  the activists and acknowledged that they were detained and afterwards released. They are Babek Huseynov (b.1983) and Vusal Mammadov (b.1984), both from Karabakh refugees. Asked why they were released, Gyozalov has answered that if it is needed, they will also be detained. however, ‘the case was opened not per persons, but per fact, and the perpetrators were Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hajizada‘ cites him local news website.

Moreover, in his response to Radio Azadliq, Gyozalov has claimed that the incident was ordinary hooliganism. ‘It should not be politicized’. And what follows afterwards is an astonishing and extraordinary story:

These 5-6 people were sitting in the restaurant and making noise, thus breaching the rules. Those two people – Huseynov and Mammadov – tried to calm them down, called them to obey the rules. ‘Any other person, including me, who has a conscience, would do the same. This is the root of the conflict. These people [Emin and Adnan] have beaten those people [Huseynov and Mammadov], injured them. This is an act of hooliganism happening on everyday basis‘.

According to witnesses, two suspicious ‘sportsmen’ entered the restaurant, approached Emin and started to beat him while ‘telling’ him that he ‘criticizes the government too much’. When Adnan tried to help Emin, he was also attacked and beaten. According to Radio Azadliq, Emin received several injuries and cut in his leg while Adnan’s nose was broken.

After being severely beaten, Emin and Adnan applied for police assistance and medical expertise, and the police also detained the perpetrators. However, with a surprise turn, both perpetrators were released, and instead, Emin and Adnan were declared main suspects in ‘hooliganism’ act. Refused to meet their lawyer and relatives, both of them were detained for a period of up to 48 hours with a possible investigation and trial afterward. Moreover, they were transferred to Khatayi District Temporary Detention Center handcuffed.

Emin Milli is one of the prominent civil society activists and helped to forge a powerful but flexible Alumni Network (AN). An incredible pre-Facebook era social network and strong mobilization force for country’s youth was both a framework into which almost whole youth activities could be fit, and a ‘primary chaos’, particles of which then evolved into various youth organizations and movements of Azerbaijan. Four days ago, on 4th July, Emin was a speaker in a Heinrich Böll Foundation roundtable dedicated to a democratization process in Azerbaijan, where he criticized the Azerbaijani government strongly.

Adnan Haji-zadeh is one of the founders of OL! Youth Movement, a liberal entity that declares the principles of modernity, non-violence and tolerance. Adnan himself is a pioneer of video-blogging in Azerbaijan and is famous for his video reportages covering problems and challenges of youth and posted in Youtube.

This could be a very perfect news piece otherwise – embroiled in infamous clashes of civilizations and suffering from religious and cultural intolerance, the world could be relieved by this generous act, as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg was relieved from ongoing global economic crisis maybe. However, back at home, things are not so comforting.

Since the start of 2009, the secular Shia state of Azerbaijan has demolished three mosques (all Shiite ones), while closed Baku’s main Sunni mosque. Another Sunni mosque remains closed since the summer of last year, when a grenade exploded inside killing two worshippers and wounding the imam.

Now, people in the streets ask a legitimate question – what is the logic behind the closure and demolition of mosques at home and a lavish donation to a church abroad?

Ironically, Baku is declared the Capital of Islamic Culture of 2009 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

To read more about closed and demolished Baku mosques visit these:

• IWPR: Baku Mosque Demolitions Undermine Tolerance Claims
• RFE/RL: Azerbaijani Officials Demolish Offshore Mosque
• RFE/RL: Turkish Mosque In Baku Closed For ‘Repairs’