Azerbaijan: Blogger Trial in Baku Boosting Local Interest in Internet

Azerbaijani media watchdog organizations do not share the optimism recently expressed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that two young video bloggers imprisoned for hooliganism will be released from jail soon.

The July 8 detention of 26-year-old Adnan Hajizade and 30-year-old Emin Abdullayev Milli, both youth activists involved in the production of video blogs that mocked the government, has become the latest in an ongoing series of media scandals that has damaged Azerbaijan's image abroad. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]

A motion to release the bloggers from prison was denied on September 4. The trial is scheduled to resume on September 16. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti told reporters on September 10 that Ali Hasanov, head of the presidential administration's Public and Political Affairs Department, had indicated to him that the bloggers' case would be "positively" resolved. "I have a strong impression that the bloggers will not be deprived of [their] freedom," news agencies reported Haraszti as saying. The OSCE diplomat noted, however, that the final decision does not rest with Hasanov.

Media watchdog representatives, though, say that Haraszti's meeting with Hasanov only confirmed the alleged political motivation behind the bloggers' detention. "Hasanov is an official from the executive branch and the fact that [Haraszti] received an assurance on a court decision from an executive branch official . . . once again confirms that the separation of powers is just on paper, " commented Natiq Jafarli, head of the Center of Economic Bloggers, a non-governmental organization made up of bloggers who specialize in economic topics. "There are no independent courts and they depend on the executive branch."

The ban on allowing journalists into the courtroom during the September 4 trial reinforces that impression, noted Emin Huseynov, head of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety. Citing previous trials touching on media rights issues - none of which resulted in a finding for the defendant - attorney Erkin Gadirli, a member of a group advocating on behalf of Hajizade and Milli, predicted that the bloggers could be released only if a "corresponding instruction" would be given by the authorities to the court.

Hasanov acknowledged popular misgivings about the blogger case, but suggested that due process was being followed. "We share concerns over this trial. But we have to note that the law is the law and it should be executed," the APA news agency quoted Hasanov as saying.

The OSCE is focusing its efforts on encouraging the Azerbaijani government to de-criminalize libel, defamation and verbal insults. High court fines and three-year prison terms for libel - under what critics characterize as a broadly phrased item in the country's criminal code, interpreted - intimidate journalists and prevent them from playing their vital watchdog role.

The OSCE's Haraszti stated that changes affecting prosecution for defamation reportedly will be "considered and probably adopted soon."

But blogger Jafarli thinks that any such change would do little to stop the prosecution of Azerbaijani journalists. "The authorities have started to incriminate journalists on charges of hooliganism, terrorism, narcotics, and so on, things that are not related to defamation," he said.

Despite the evident dangers, Azerbaijan's blogoshpere remains active, Azerbaijanis say. Like other blogging activists, Jafarli claims that the arrest of Hajizade and Milli has sparked greater interest in using the Internet as a medium for communication and the distribution of information. "If before blogs were mostly created as electronic diaries, now some of them have turned into sources for the expression of views on political and public affairs," Jafarli said.

Roughly 27,000 blogs now operate from Azerbaijan, and the figure is increasing, reports Emin Huseynzade, Caucasus project manager for Transitions Online, a Prague-based media development organization. [Editor's Note: Transitions Online receives funding from the Open Society Institute [OSI] and is a content partner with EurasiaNet.org, which operates under OSI's auspices].

"Certainly, after [the] detention of [the] bloggers there was a shock among other bloggers," Huseynzade said. "This case mostly impacted newcomers who just started to show an interest in blogging, and then dropped it. But it [fear] lasted just a short time."

Self-censorship by people who cautiously express their views and the high price of Internet access are the two main factors holding back Azerbaijan's rate of blog development, he continued. Broadband connections range in cost between 60 and 120 manats per month, or about $75 to $150 per month, an enormous expense for an average Azerbaijani citizen. "If the price of Internet [access] is reduced ? the exchange of information through blogs, Yahoo! groups, [and] other means of virtual socializing will increase," he said.

Minister of Communications Ali Abbasov told EurasiaNet that the government has no role in setting Internet access prices; costs, he added, are set by privately owned providers and have been kept "sufficiently reduced" for the last two years.

Huseynzade, citing ministry data, said that Azerbaijan has seen over a 100-fold increase in its number of Internet users over the past nine years - from 12,000 users in 2000 to 1.5 million users today. The Internet is now the sole source of pluralism in Azerbaijan, the OSCE's Haraszti noted.

"State control must not be expanded [to the] Internet, as it does not have boundaries and [does not] belong to any nation," he said.