Commenting on the conviction by a court of first instance of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, two Azerbaijani youth activists, to two-and-a-half and two years in prison respectively on charges of hooliganism and bodily harm, Günter Nooke, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, issued the following statement in Berlin today (11 November):

”Now that Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade have been convicted, there are two new political prisoners in Azerbaijan. It seems that in all the talks conducted at bilateral level by the EU, the OSCE and the Council of Europe regarding the events surrounding the two young men, Baku only pretended that it would see to a transparent and fair trail.“

Four months ago, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade were attacked in a staged fight, only to afterwards be arrested as the ”perpetrators“ on charges of hooliganism. Since then they have been held in custody. As video bloggers and activists, the two young men have been taking a critical view of the situation in Azerbaijan.