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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Déclaration publique

Index AI : EUR 55/006/2009
ÉFAI
17 juillet 2009

Azerbaïdjan. Deux jeunes militants ont été arrêtés

Amnesty International est vivement préoccupée par les derniers événements s’inscrivant dans le cadre de la répression qui se poursuit en Azerbaïdjan contre les militants de la société civile et les médias. Emin Milli (de son vrai nom Emin Abdoullaïev) et Adnan Hacizade ont été interpellés le 8 juillet 2009 sous l’inculpation de « houliganisme » et placés en détention provisoire pour deux mois le 10 juillet. Amnesty International pense qu’ils ont sans doute été arrêtés pour avoir exercé sans violence leur droit à la liberté d’expression.

Emin Milli et Adnan Hacizade sont deux jeunes militants bien connus qui utilisent des outils de mise en réseau du Web, dont Youtube, Facebook et Twitter, afin de faire circuler des informations sur la situation sociopolitique en Azerbaïdjan. Emin Milli est également cofondateur d’un groupe de jeunes, Alumni Network, tandis qu’Adnan Hacizade est coordinateur d’un autre mouvement appelé OL !

Selon certaines informations parvenues à Amnesty International, le 8 juillet 2009, Emin Milli et Adnan Hacizade dînaient avec des militants de la société civile dans un restaurant de la capitale Bakou. Alors qu’ils débattaient du cybermilitantisme, deux hommes costauds se seraient approchés de leur groupe, auraient exigé qu’ils cessent de parler de politique et auraient agressé Emin Milli et Adnan Hacizade. Les deux jeunes gens auraient alors été blessés, Adnan Hacizade aurait eu le nez cassé et Emin Milli aurait été blessé à la jambe.

Tous deux se sont ensuite rendus au poste de police pour porter plainte. Toutefois, au lieu d’enregistrer leur plainte concernant cette agression, les policiers ont arrêté Adnan Hacizade, puis Emin Milli, ce dernier ayant semble-t-il refusé de quitter les lieux sans son compagnon. Ils auraient été inculpés de « houliganisme commis par un groupe de personnes », infraction passible d’une peine d’emprisonnement pouvant aller jusqu’à cinq ans.

Amnesty International est préoccupée par certaines informations selon lesquelles les policiers n’ont pas mené d’enquête approfondie ni impartiale sur ces faits. Entre autres, ils n’ont pas interrogé les éventuels témoins. Malgré cela, les agresseurs présumés auraient été remis en liberté.

Par ailleurs, les autorités n’ont semble-t-il pas respecté les droits des deux militants détenus garantis en vertu de la loi azerbaïdjanaise et des instruments internationaux relatifs aux droits humains. Plus particulièrement, selon des informations parvenues à Amnesty International, Emin Abdoullaïev et Adnan Hacizade n’ont pas été autorisés à consulter leurs avocats avant le 9 juillet après-midi. Pourtant, dans l’intervalle, Adnan Hacizade aurait été interrogé par les autorités.

D’après les organisations azerbaïdjanaises de défense des droits humains, il est à craindre que les charges retenues aient été forgées de toutes pièces en vue de sanctionner les deux jeunes hommes parce qu’ils critiquent le gouvernement dans le cadre de leur activités militantes en ligne. Ce n’est pas la première fois que les autorités de ce pays portent des accusations pénales pour réduire au silence des voix dissidentes. Le prisonnier d’opinion Qanimat Zahid, rédacteur en chef du journal d’opposition Azadliq, a par exemple été condamné à une peine de quatre ans d’emprisonnement après avoir été accusé de houliganisme et d’agression en mars 2008. Plusieurs journalistes ont également été incarcérés sur la base d'accusations contestables au cours des dernières années. Amnesty International a récemment fait part de ses préoccupations concernant l’espace de plus en plus restreint accordé à la liberté d’expression en Azerbaïdjan dans un rapport intitulé Azerbaijan: Independent journalists under siege (index AI : EUR 55/004/2009).

Selon l’organisation, si Emin Milli et Adnan Hacizade sont maintenus en détention uniquement pour avoir exercé sans violence leur droit à la liberté d’expression, leur arrestation et leur détention violent les obligations qui incombent à l’Azerbaïdjan de respecter ce droit. Si tel est le cas, Amnesty International les considère comme des prisonniers d'opinion, qui doivent être libérés immédiatement et sans condition.

Document public
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Secrétariat international, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., Londres WC1X 0DW, Royaume-Uni, www.amnesty.org.

TURANSAM condemned Adnan and Emin's arbitrary arrest and detention

Azerbaycan İktidarına Kınama Mesajı
Tarih: 10.07.2009 > Yollayan: Yönetim
TURAN-SAM olarak demokratik bir çağda yaşamakta olan günümüz dünyasında tüm dünyaya geride kalmışlık imajı veren Azerbaycana ve Azerbaycan hükümetini şiddetle kınıyoruz. Öğrenci aydınlar harketatının başkanı Emin MİLLİ ve Adnan HACIZADEnin tutuklanmasını şiddetle kınıyoruz. İnsan hakları açısından şiddete maruz kalan kişileri tutuklamanın ne kadar cahilane bir tutum olduğunu er geç Azerbaycan resmilerinin de anlaması dileğiyle.

Kaynak: TURAN-SAM

Please find below a brief bio of Adnan and Emin, that will provide an overview of the reasons of their arbitrary arrest and detention.

Adnan Hajizada, (July 13, 1983) is youth activist and blogger. He got bachelor degree in Law from Khazar University and BA in Political Science from University of Richmond.

He works in BP as Internal Communications Officer ( January 2006 – present). In 2005, before he served in military Hajizada was assistant to OSCE-ODIHR, Election Long-Term Observer (2005). During his University education he had summer internship in Voice of America (June-September 2005).

Hajizada also was Project assistant at EU TACIS program (June 2004), Research Assistant at Chesterfield Public Schools, Research Assistant, Richmond, VA, (December 2003). In 2001-2002 Hajizada was Alumi coordinator at
American Councils for International Education. Within this capacity he tutored English in the regions and organized orphanage visits, planned tests for 2000 applicants.

Hajizada is co-founder of Ol Public Movement, non-political, non-profit organization. He was actively involved in creating Olmedia – the multimedia tool where Ol members could distribute and publish multimedia reports and messages. Ol is promoting non-violence, democracy, tolerance, education for everyone. Ol is not linked to any political organization and is advocating youth involvement in social change.



Emin Milli biography

Emin Milli (Abdullayev), 30 (was born on October 14, 1979) is a New Media activist and one of the leaders of non-political, non profit youth organization AN (Alumni Network).
Graduate of Baku State University International law school, Emin Milli got his masters degree at the University of Saarbruecken European Law School.

Emin Milli has worked before as a coordinator of International Republican Institute (IRI) in Azerbaijan (1999-2000), as a director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Azerbaijan (2002-2004). As a consultant and legal expert he was advising the Council of Europe (CoE) in matters concerning political prisoners in Azerbaijan in more than 40 cases (2002 -2004). In 2005 Milli has been political analyst assistant in OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission in Azerbaijan.

Emin Milli is the co-founder of AN Network established in 2005. He is one of the authors and organizers of the campaign - "Future Is What You Do Now" which contributed to the establishing and designing of the State Program to send 5 000 Azerbaijani students to the best Universities abroad. The latest decisions of the government to de-facto shut down foreign broadcasters (radios -"Liberty", "BBC" and "VOA") in combination with the scheduled referendum to be held on March 18, 2009 to establish unlimited Presidency in Azerbaijan made Emin Milli to initiate international campaign to increase international pressure on the government of Azerbaijan to reconsider its position on both issues.

I would like to publish the wonderful message that a friend of Adnan wrote for his birthday :

Celebrating Adnan or I don't want a requiem for a dream
by Humay Guliyeva

Silence my voice
I’ve got no choice
All the world I’ve seen before me
Passing by.. (ATWA-System of a Down)

Tonight I can write the saddest lines
Write,for example, “the night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.” (Pablo Neruda)

You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13, Jesus Christ to his apostles)

I took a screenplay writing class in my last year in undergrad. The professor told us in the first class that there are three types of people: those who tell the stories, those who listen to the stories and...”what is the third one?”she asked. I had a rare moment of revelation and said that there are people who are stories themselves. Adnan belongs to the latter type. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t take this last story seriously and thought that it will be just a funny episode. An unexpected trip to a police station.Yes, a bit of ADRenalin in our blood.

I first heard about Adnan in school, Baku European Lyceum where we both studied. I was in 9th grade when his class was graduating (from 11th). It was the most famous class, known for very bright and active kids, either called by us as “Sevda muellimenin sinfi” (Professor Sevda’s class - our algebra and geometry professor everybody feared, respected and loved) or “Adnanin sinfi” (Adnan’s class) after its brightest representative. Back then we kept the respectful distance as we were regarded as “kids”. Luckily, I met Adnan for the second time when I graduated and came to work in BP. I started on January 6, 2006 and they were expecting Adnan to start in about a week. And so he did.

Now pompous words would sound bitter, but it’s true that it was a privilege to know Adnan so closely. He is indeed of a rare kind. In a conformist land as ours is, Adnan lived according to his own truths, defining himself over and over again with frustrations at a time, but never afraid of challenging himself or others. At first it would seem naive and it took me a while to realize how genuinely true he was to himself. He never preached. If he thought this is the right thing to do, he simply did it. He had this amazing dedication to excellence and would bring excitement even to most mundane tasks. Adnan’s smile and his “ay jan”(more or less translated as “yes, my soul”) when called upon was able to cheer up anyone. That room was an amazing place to be with the endless debates about religion with our hard-core religious Turkhan or hard-core opposition activistSaadat khanim who didn’t believe in youth movements and non-violence and believed in the power of “meydan” only (“meydan” means square in Azeri and is often used in context of Freedom Square, where Azeris demanded their independence from the Soviets). Adnan believed in the evolution of minds.

Adnan was disarmingly honest and never politically correct. Once when our team leader was reading an editorial she wrote for the internal magazine he said “Gulya khanim, this seems too long.” And she said: “well maybe it’s because my voice is boring and squeaky.” Adnan made a thoughtful face and said very seriously: “perhaps, perhaps.”

Then, there was OL! Youth Movement. He would meet with people who had potential and I remember a meeting with one girl where I also took part. She would speak in Russian and Adnan would answer back in Azerbaijani. It went back and forth for the entire time and he never switched to Russian, even though his Russian was impeccable. Yes he couldn’t make others to speak Azeri, but he could do that himself.He was “Plato, you are dear to me but dearer more is truth” kind of a person. Once all three of us in the room (me, Adnan and Rufat) wanted to take a vacation in the same week and our team leader asked us to figure out someone who would stay. I remember writing an email to both of them. It said: “I know that the age of chivalry is long gone, but the spirit is still alive in our room.” Adnan wrote back simply: “No.” And it was hilarious.

I remember breaking his earphones once and then acting capriciously and not buying him new ones. I would say: “Adnan, can’t you buy yourself new earphones? What’s the problem?” He would say that this is not about earphones, but principle. People should take responsibility for their actions. He didn’t nag or anything. He just used the broken ones for about three months until I felt horrible and bought a new set of earphones. He said “see, Humush, now you acted responsibly.”

I remember how on 8th of March he walked in carrying three flowers, one for each lady in the room. No big statements. He just walked in with three flowers, unwrapped, unpretentious, sincere flowers. I think it was a Czech writer Milan Kundera who said that when all the beauty in the world is gone, he would just take a flower and walk around looking at it as the cleanest, purest expression of beauty. I think it was my best 8th of March gift.

He was very enthusiastic to implement a “free hug” campaign in Baku, standing on the street with a board where “free hugs” would be written.. I remember laughing crazily for about 10 minutes, breathless and non-stop.. Free hugs in Baku? Where you can get in trouble for just looking at a passersby mini skirt? Are you out of your mind, Adnan? He would say: “People need to love each other more here. Too much aggression.” Our Saadat khanim said: “This kid wants to get himself killed. Allah seni guldursun!” (May God make you laugh - usually said when someone says something very funny) He did make this “free hug” thing at a pretty big party in Baku. And he was planning to take it to the streets some time.

Seeing that everyone at work spends too much time at their computers, he came up with an initiative for pedometer challenge. The entire Communications and External Affairs team divided into teams of three and wore pedometers for about a month. A team which had the most steps would win. We were in the same team with Adnan and every morning when I would come to work he would greet me with “Humush, how many steps?” I would try to wake up early and walk to work. And he would encourage me to walk home after work too and would keep the company. There was this craziness and competition in the team, as everyone was running around, jumping around, trying to sneak in and ask how many steps did the other team have. Saadat khanim lost a couple of pounds, as she was a principled and determined woman with a strong will to win.And these walks in a city where many just ride around in big cars, they were nice too.Once I remember wrongly attributing "What is our life? Just a game!" quote to Shakespeare during these walks. A day after he sent me a text message saying that he checked and it's actually Pushkin.

I remember how happy and proud Adnan was when he heard that I was admitted to Columbia. He would ask in the room: “you do know who graduated from Columbia, don't you?” It was a time of Saakashvili euphoria as neither opposition crackdowns, nor war in Georgia didn’t happen yet. I remember an “Orange Sky” CD he gave me with songs from Ukrainian Orange Revolution.I remember a final dinner we had with BP team to celebrate my admission. We were discussing what is freedom and what does it mean to be free. Freedom for Adnan was as water for a fish. He would swim in the topic and breathe with it. I remember him telling in the end: “Humay, make us proud.”

Then he went to the army. Even in army he would show films to soldiers and try to educate them. In the summer heat, he would march in winter boots (no, they don’t have summer boots in our army) and still keep his chin up.

This piece is already long. It could go on forever. I could write about his videos, about his social ads which would be a hilarious satire to some of our indeed very stupid customs (I would translate and explain them to my friends in States and even they would die laughing), about his endless creativity, his integrity, honesty and his searchesfor a true and just world, for a better Azerbaijan. Words are very weak indeed. That’s why Adnan acted.

Adnan, ezizim, you are 26 today. You are celebrating this day behind the bars. Or my guess is you are not celebrating it. But we are celebrating. I am glad that you came into this world and into our lives. I am glad you showed me how much a person can do just by himself. I am glad you proved that one man with beliefs is worth of thousand with interests. I am glad that you dared to dream and took us on a journey too. Please keep on dreaming. I don’t want a requiem for a dream. And please come back. We miss you here

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=231212070362&h=Etajg&u=X5vXx

ISAHAN ASHUROV: ARREST OF ADNAN HAJIZADA AND EMIN MILLI CANNOT BE LIMITED TO TWO MONTHS
11.07.2009...14:55:12...Saturday
BAKU/11.07.09/TURAN: The term of arrest of youth activists Adnan Hajizada and Emin Milli cannot be limited to two months and theoretically they can be sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, lawyer Isahan Ashurov told Turan while commenting on yesterday’s decision of the Sabail region court. “Two months is the term of investigation. According to the procedure, as soon as this term expires, the case will be submitted back to the court for final decision,” lawyer said. The lawyer said the course of investigation was a blatant violation of Azerbaijan Constitution and the European Human Rights Convention. “That was arbitrariness and violation of all rights. The complaint that Adnan and Emin wrote and lodged to police disappeared from the investigation papers,” the lawyer said. Ashurov is sure that the case has been planned and framed-up. “The beaten people have been arrested and those who have attacked have been released. I think that investigation will have no other witnesses, than policemen, because nobody will believe that Adnan and Emin have hit anybody,” Ashurov said. The fact that medical aid has not been rendered to the young activists proves that that was a well-planned provocation. They have been handcuffed to each other, which is a violation of international conventions prohibiting inhuman treatment of the detainees. “Those who have organized that do not take into account consequences of their actions,” lawyers said. Asked how court has reacted to the investigation papers, lawyers said the judge has ignored all these violations and did not take into consideration arguments presented by the defense. Moreover, the judge took an illegal decision to hold the closed session. “Those who have planned this provocation, probably, wanted to punish the guys and made a present to Adnan, who will have birthday on Monday. But the guys did not break down. Adnan was worried only about his parents,” lawyer said. On July 10 in the evening the Sabail region judge Rauf Ahmadov put Hajizada and Milli under arrest for hooliganism. The real reason of their arrest is video placed by the guys on the internet, which ridicules the authorities’ policy and was very popular among young people.-0-

the entire events
INTERROGATION OF YOUTH ACTIVISTS IN SABAIL POLICE

BAKU/10.07.09/TURAN: Interrogation of Adnan Hajizade and Emin
Milli in Sabail District Police Office started at 11:00 a.m. has not
finished by 16:00. Trial will be held in closed regime , what is
contrary to the European Human Rights Convention, journalists, foreign
diplomats and relatives of the detained were told by the lawyer Isakhan
Ashurov who attended the interrogation.
Ashurov said that he had received copies of protocols on
interrogation which testify « that this investigation is not
legal.»Being asked if the release of the detained is real he said
that «chances are close to zero taking into account the state of
justice.»
Ashurov confirmed health problems of the young people. «Their
faces have swollen, however
medical assistance has not been rendered yet. Emin’s leg is injured,
probably there is a piece
of glass in it,» Ashurov said. He said that people ho attacked
Hajizade and Milli have not been
detained. According to unofficial information, one of then was placed
to hospital, the lawyer said. -03ÿ-


CLOSED TRIAL ON CASE OF YOUTH ACTIVISTS BEGINS IN SABAIL COURT

BAKU/10.07.09/TURAN: Approximately at 18:30 the trial on the case
of the youth activists, Adnan Hajizadeh and Emin Milli began in the
Sabail District Court. Journalists and human-right activists were not
admitted to the trial which will be closed, though a case of hooliganism
is being considered. -016ÿ-


HIKMET HAJIZADEH: AUTHORITIES WANT US TO KEEP SILENCE

BAKU/10.07.09/TURAN: “I see great injustice in the arrest of my
son. Why are two innocent young men, who were attacked, kept in jail,
but the guilty are free? It seems that somebody is unhappy with my
son’s political activity, and it is revenge,” said Hikmet
Hajizadeh, the detained Adnan Hajizadeh’s father, former Vice-Premier
of Azerbaijan and former Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, member of
the Divan of the oppositional Musavat party.
He is going to appeal to the court, even to the European Court.
Hajizadeh said that his family is not an enemy of the authorities, and
the detention of the young people is aimed against freedom. “Probably
the authorities want public activists, journalists and all others to
keep silence,” Hajizadeh said. -03ÿ04-


SABAIL COURT ARRESTS OF YOUTH ACTIVISTS FOR TWO MONTHS

BAKU/10.07.09/TURAN: Youth activists Emin Milli (Abdullayev) and
Adnan Hajizade were found guilty of hooliganism and accused under
the Article 222.1 in accordance with decision passed late evening on
Friday by the Judge of Sabail Court Rauf Ahmedov. Young people will be
under arrest in the jail of Baku Police.
Numerous friends of the detained and journalists accepted the sentence
passed by the judge by singing the hymn of Azerbaijan and crying out
“Azadlig!” (freedom.)
"The decision is absolutely illegal and we will appeal," the lawyer
Isakhan Ashurov said. He said that court found Vusal Mamedov and
Babek Huseynov who had beaten Hajizade and Milli as sufferers.
The trial was held in close regime, journalists and diplomats
were not admitted to the hall. Ombudsman of Germany Gunter Nooke who
had arrived in Baku yesterday, also was not admitted to the trial.
Prior to the trial Nooke managed to talk to the chairwoman of the trial
Gulzar Rzayeva, but that was all he managed.
" Chairman of trial told me that the trial will be closed in
accordance with procedure code. I did not expect to such things here. I
told Rzayeva that it was probably a provocation against young people.
The matter will be discussed on the international level and will cause
damage to Azerbaijan’s image," Nooke said.
Lawyer Isakhan Ashurov told that he had challenged against the
makeup of court because of the decision to hold a close trail, but his
challenge was rejected.
Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli were attacked on July 3 evening in
“Lebanese” café in the center of Baku. However, police detained
them and accused of hooliganism. Democratic publicity is sure that
Hajizadeh and Milli have been arrested for the creation of youth
network in Internet. -16ÿ-


The U.S. Embassy is concerned about sudden arrest of Emin Milli and
Adnan Hajizadeh

Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. The United States Embassy is concerned
about sudden arrest and detention of NGO leaders Emin Milli and Adnan
Hajizadeh, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy told APA.
“We note the reports that they have been beaten by unknown assailants
and detained pending trial while their assailants have been released. We
are also concerned by reports that the police denied them access to
their lawyers and adequate medical care.
We have raised this issue with senior officials of the Government of
Azerbaijan and law enforcement officials. We will continue to do so. We
call on the Government of Azerbaijan to ensure that Mr. Milli and Mr.
Hajizadeh are granted proper access to legal assistance and medical
care. We ask that the Government of Azerbaijan exercise due process in
this case and respect the rights of these individuals.
The United States Government remains committed to working with the
government and people of Azerbaijan to encourage freedom of speech and
freedom of association, which we view as integral to the democratic
process in every nation”.


Baku City Prosecutor’s Office and Baku City Main Police Department
release statement on arrest of Adnan Hajizadeh and Emin Milli
Baku. Ramil Mammadli – APA. Baku City Prosecutor’s Office and Baku
City Main Police Department released statement on arrest of Adnan
Hajizadeh and Emin Milli, press service of the Interior Ministry told
APA.
The statement said some media organizations were trying to politicize
the arrest of Adnan Hajizadeh and his friend Emin Abdullayev (Milli) for
hooliganism they committed in the restaurant-bar “Lebanese” in
Sabayel District of Baku. Hajizadeh, Milli and five others clashed with
Vusal Mammadov and Babak Huseynov, who rebuked them for non-ethic words.


Four of them escaped from the site when police arrived and three,
including Hajizadeh and Milli were detained. Medical examination
identified that Hajizadeh and Orkhan GaFarov were in drink, but Emin
Abdullayev, Vusal Mammadov and Babak Huseynov didn’t drink alcohol.
Huseynov received first medical aid, but Mammadov was hospitalized with
head injury.

Hajizadeh and Abdullayev were detained as suspect and Mammadov and
Huseynov gave testimony as a person aggrieved. According to the Sabayel
District Court’s decision Hajizadeh and Abdullayev will be detained
for two months pending trial.

The number of non-governmental organizations and human rights defenders
addressed the Interior Ministry and General Prosecutor’s Office to
keep the issue under the control.