Today, the Baku Appeals Court heard imprisoned blogger Adnan Hajizade’s appeal of for early release. Judge Sahibkhan Mirzayev chaired the hearing.
Hajizade`s lawyer filed a motion to allow the blogger to sit next to the lawyers during the hearing, instead of remaining in prison.
The Judge said that the motion will be considered at the next hearing, scheduled for November 15th .
Garadag District Court Judge Rufan Mursalov had already ruled against the Hajizade’s application for early release. Hajizade has served half of his two year term and is thus eligible for early release under Azerbaijani law.
BACKGROUND
On July 8th 2009, at approximately 8:00 pm, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade were sitting at a table in “Lebonese” (Livan) restaurant, along with several other young adults, when two men came over and attacked them. Milli and Hajizade were both physically injured in the attack. Although they went to the police as victims, the police detained both men as suspects for 48 hours, while the attackers were released. On July 10th, Sabail District Court judge Rauf Ahmadov charged Milli and Hajizade under with hooliganism. He sentenced them both to a two-month pre-trial detention. On July 20th , the Appellate Court upheld this decision. Charges of hooliganism and inflicting intentional minor bodily harm were made against Millli and Hajizade. This case was sent to the Sabail District Court for consideration. On November 11, the court sentenced Milli to 2.5 years and Hajizade to 2 years in prison. On March 10th. 2010, the Baku Appellate Court ruled to uphold the verdict of the Sabail District Court. Local and international organizations recognize the youth bloggers as prisoners of conscience.