Baku Court Postpones Hearing On Jailed Bloggers
July 17, 2009
BAKU -- An Appeals Court in the Azerbaijani capital has postponed a hearing to review a lower court's verdict on the pretrial detention of the two young bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
The postponement came after the men's attorneys, Elton Guliyev and Isakhan Ashurov, demanded that the defendants be present in court.
Milli and Hajizada were detained in the early morning on July 9 after they were beaten in a Lebanese restaurant and went to police to register their complain.
Police officials claim the bloggers beat up two individuals who "tried to restore order at the restaurant."
Human rights activists believe the provocation was planned against the bloggers and the police arrested the victims instead of the perpetrators.
Milli and Hajizada, well-known bloggers and Internet networkers, were distributing critical articles and satire.
Their arrest has been condemned by local and international rights groups.