Azerbaijan bloggers receive prison sentences - USEFUL LINKS

Yesterday, on 11th November, Sabayel District "Court" of Baku presided by "Justice" Araz Huseynov convicted Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade on faked and ridiculous charges and despite huge internal and international pressure. Both bloggers were accused of "attacking" and "beating" two sportsmen, one of them a Wushu master, despite huge evidence otherwise.

Despite the huge success of lawyers and huge failure of "prosecutors", "judge" simply ignored Aristotelian logic and common sense and sentenced Adnan Hajizade for two and Emin Milli for two and half years. No rationale was offered to explain term difference.

Our special thanks to the Azerbaijan government for they showed to whole world our "justice" at work. Otherwise, those today-here-tomorrow-at-home foreign officials from international organizations were not believing our veteran human rights activists when they were lamenting sad state of Azeri "justice."

And no more comments from me today - my feelings are beyond any words to express - only links to respectable news outlets and organizations which you can copy and paste into your emails and send to various instances. I have omitted new media, blogs and opinion pieces to avoid any pedantic attitudes

A Republican in the Caucasus

"Republican" is a bad word nowadays - both in Azerbaijan, where arrogant ruling elite displays full scale of monarchical tendencies, and in the US, where Glenn Beck together with Sarah Palin have hijacked the party of Lincoln to monger hate sponsored by Murdoch.

Neither my sympathies lie in any republican grand, but in timidly liberal Alexander II of Russia, whose reforms, though-ill fated, nevertheless broke away today's Azerbaijan from the ignorant orient and brought it into Europe.

However, there is one Republican in the Caucasus who should deserve appraisal of all of you today, who in twenty days' time will become the former head of former Azerbaijan office of the International Republican Institute. Because, IRI closes its branch in Baku due to the lack of funding. I am not well aware of delicacies of American foreign financial assistance, but USAID's denial of funds to IRI and IRI's sad negligence of depending only on one sponsor will leave democratic Baku without one of its ardent sympathizers - Jake Jones.

Keep it simple, Kalashnikov!

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the famous rifle bearing his name will turn 90 next month and thus, perhaps thought that it was suitable time to preach some morality. "I created this weapon primarily to safeguard our fatherland," he decried "criminal" use of his rifle. According to Reuters, in a videotaped address to "a conference of Russian arms traders and designers at a top-secret Soviet-era arms testing facility outside Moscow" he said that it was painful for him to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from his weapon. Howeer, this excerpt below was my favourite part:

"When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed'," Kalashnikov, dressed in a general's camouflage uniform, said.

"So this has been my lifetime motto -- I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable."

"The arms bearing my name are now in service in 55 nations," Kalashnikov, who is still the chief arms designer for Izhmash, the holding company that makes Kalashnikovs, added with pride.

"In some countries, even newborn children are named 'Kalash'," he said. "This is very pleasing."

Analysis: Bloggers' trial in Azerbaijan

Bloggers' trial has been once again delayed - such runs the latest (and repeating) news from the court hearings of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, two youth activists and video-bloggers from Azerbaijan. Emin and Adnan were assaulted and detained on July 8th, more than 100 days ago while dining in a downtown restaurant. Subsequently, they were accused of hooliganism, received a two-month pretrial detention and it is already two months that Sabayel District Court of Baku is hearing their case.

Court session today, on 27 October ended with a delay till 6 November. Previous hearing was on 13 October and it was also postponed. The preparatory session itself was held on 4 September while actual hearing began on 16 September. Not to mention that the investigation took more than 40 days and was concluded on 22 August. Altogether, it is the 112th day that the law machinery of Azerbaijan is considering what to do with two bloggers. So, why the process which is thought to be fair and quick is actually being dragged on and on? Why a simple case about hooliganism is so time-consuming?

Small wedding of a People's Writer

In Azerbaijan, every normal male has two weddings. When he meets his soul mate and joins his life with hers, there arrives a "big wedding," sinfully lavish party to celebrate the marriage. But very, very before that, while he is still a pre-school kid, there arrives a surgeon or a barber and a "small wedding," this time sane party to mark his circumcision. Inevitable rite of passage.

Recently, on 18 October, a group of Azeri intelligentsia gathered at the town of Novkhani, just outside of Baku to discuss the dire situation of today's Azerbaijan and how our intellectuals can save our souls. The so-called Novkhani Forum was closed to the public and we still don't know the details. But two things are for sure - one decaying giant was explicitly absent, while another decaying giant took a jet from Moscow to be present.

Anyway, what would we do without rumours? Birds have told us that in the veriest beginning of the forum, there was some sort of a scandal. Even before the start of the forum, one MP and People's Writer, son of a People's Writer and brother of a People's Writer, has asked the forum to grant him the right to speak first, for he has to leave immediately for a small wedding. Barber has sharpened his blade and the boy has taken his pants off and everbody is waiting for the People's Writer to arrive for the ceremony to begin.

To hell with nation's problems!

Life Without Facebook: A Justification

As I departed Facebook for a unspecified period of time - to rest myself from excess procrastination and once again feel my flesh and blood, I never thought this explanation of mine was enough for my friends. And now, thanks to a friend, I stumbled upon this brilliant piece from the New York Times Magazine:

... this mass-erosion of our self-control was inevitable, as the instrument of our productivity merged with that of our distraction: since computers have expanded from mere business tools to full-service entertainment centers.

Read the full article, it is as well as my justification, with a back date.

Interview of an Azerbaijani writer and MP

Huseynbala Miralamov is my MP - that is MP of an electoral district where I live. Besides, people claim that his vocation is literature. Frankly, he has written many books and as I haven't read any, I am not the one to judge how true this claim is. However, recently, he has given an interview to an Azerbaijani news web site and there talked about his writer career. The title says: "Post-modernism is a jugglery."

Below are excerpts in my translation.
Disclaimer: I have voted for another candidate, not him.

Quote of the day, as well as surprise

"Those who want to separate Turkey and Azerbaijan have no difference than an enemy." -- Ogtay Asadov, The Speaker of Milli Majlis, the Azerbaijani Parliament, 20 October 2009.

Life without Facebook: Day one

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed,

easy to get into, but hard to get out of.

Anonymous

Yes, I could! I de-activated my Facebook account. Though Facebook gives you an option to come back at any time and recover all your data, but for now I am firm on my decision to spend my coming weeks out of social slavery networking.

I arrived at this decision slowly and painfully as I realized that it was no longer me spending time in Facebook, but it was Facebook eating my soul, my time, my life, my health and my nerves. During these two years and something I became a real Facebook addict who would lay all his to-do things aside and spend countless hours surfing through friends' profiles. As a recent essay on BBC says (and I'd sign under):

I'd got sucked into semi-stalkerdom and felt something akin to separation anxiety if I ever found myself offline for more than a few hours. What had been my favourite waste of time had morphed into a demanding and anti-social addiction.

However, leaving Facebook brought not a relief but anxiety. "What is next" was the only question in my mind all the time and I didn't feel any greatness of the moment. Perhaps it was the very feeling of ancient Hebrews when Moses led their exodus from fertile and civilized land of Egypt to unknown and unpopulated deserts. And perhaps had they known they'd spend 40 years wandering in emptiness, they would remain on the banks of the Nile however oppressive were the chains they were wearing.

In our days, when the world thinks that it has put an end to a long and shameful history of slavery (in fact, the slavery is once again confined to the very banks of the Nile where it once started), there is a new kind of slavery emerging. Disguised beneath a gentle term of "online procrastination" it has become lifestyle of the entire planet. Social netwroking has enslaved millions of Internet users and continues to grow in a speed of a deadly virus. In non-free societies it has become the last refuge from harsh realities of the day where hundreds of dissident youth gather to realize, at least virtually, their ultimate dream of a just society.

In the beginning, it would be my activities mirrored in Facebook, but towards the end it was my activities in Facebook mirrored in my real life. Facebook has become the second most discussed topic of me and my friends and my foes, after the oppressiveness of the regime that rules over us.

Thus, it was time to quit Facebook. At least for now, to feel once again that I am a real human being from flesh and blood, not just an online profile somewhere out there. And I de-activated my account. But to be frank, I am still wondering whether I would do that if Facebook didn't keep all my user data. And I wonder whether I am really free again, if this invisible bond still continues to connect me to Facebook and I can be drawn back into its net at any time, soon or later?

100 days in jail: Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade

If you look at the counter on the top of the sidebar in this blog - there you can see a counter. It was designed to keep the track of the time Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade have spent in prison waiting for due process and fair justice. As you recall, they were beaten and detained for alleged hooliganism and their case is still being heard at the court.

Today, officially the counter run out of digits. It is 100th day of their detention and an optimist who designed that counter was perhaps hoping that he would meet Emin and Adnan just in a few days. As was me when I placed that counter here.

It is Blog Action Day 2009: Climate change impact

Yes, there is such a day - and not surprisingly, I didn't know about it until Peter, a friend from Uganda had told me that. I admit, I always was a selfish blogger, obsessed with my own blog.

Every year, on 15 October, bloggers of the world unite and post something about one agreed-upon topic. So called Blog Action Day. This year it is climate change impact. Something is going to be held in Copenhagen these days that can or cannot have an immense effect on humanity. I don't know whether it can return all four seasons to Baku, my hometown again, or it can't. After all, I am sick with these hot and dry summers and rainy and moist winters. When I was a child we used to have real winters with snow and real autumns with falling leaves and cooling rains.

Then, sometime in mid-1990s subtropics moved several kilometers up to north in Russian maps we were using at schools. Wow, Baku is now in subtropics - we were amazed checking with old Soviet maps. Yes, it is! But - oh, no!

However, now conversing with Peter - I am a complete layman in that, while he has a profound knowledge about climate change impact in developing world - how it destroys whole communities, brings hunger and famine to once-prosperous villages - I realize the problem that sank me into life-long depression - Baku's moving into subtropics, or rather subtropics' moving into Baku is a childish caprice of the nature in comparison with all those environmental disasters developing world faces.

Yes, my everyday readers can be too tired while reading this post. I myself is so cynical at the moment. I have to write two texts, revise another two and answer several emails from dear friends and indifferent acquaintances. I haven't harvested my corn in FarmVille and they can wither at any moment. I have accidentally left my flash drive in an office where I was a guest and I don't recall what data was in it. I am still struggling with that online application and tomorrow have to pass through some nightmarish bureaucratic procedures at university. 

However, if we don't do anything about preventing this climate change, our children and grandchildren won't have a chance to be bored by all these boring nuances of this boring life.

P.S. Evgeny Morozov would say that I am engaged in slacktivism, but to be honest, I have changed a light bulb in my room to an environment-friendly one a month ago. Pour faire aise a ma conscience.

Conditions for opposition getting worse in Azerbaijan

According to a media report by RFE/RL, members of local branch of ruling New Azerbaijan Party have attacked meeting of an Azeri opposition party Musavat in city of Barda in central Azerbaijan. Prior to the attack, two high-ranking party officials from Musavat were trying to organize a campaign event for upcoming municipal elections.

Local branch of New Azerbaijan Party denied these allegations. Official from Barda city Mazahir Gasimov "described the incident as a 'mob's reaction,' saying that the Musavat party 'irritated the population' when they were in power from 1992-1993." Moreover,

Because "we live in a democratic society," Gasimov said, people wonder why it is necessary for opposition parties to continue their activities.

I am amazed at the fact that how "ordinary" Azeri citizens have become sensitive to any independent and oppositional thinking and activities. If you recall, recently two brave patriots of Azerbaijan, refugees from Karabakh, have attacked and beaten two Azeri youth activists and bloggers for one of them dared to say "this government is wrong."

I surely think this government is always right. Was and will be.

Photos of detained bloggers at police station

Sometimes things can get pretty silly and absurd. All the last hearings of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade's trial was about proving that the detained bloggers themselves arrived at the police station to file a complaint. They are not 'hooligans' who have beaten two sportsmen, but real victims. In a normal court, the process would be around proving their innocence. In a normal country, they wouldn't end up in a jail. But, as one brilliant but little-known Twitter hashtag says - #CaucasusKangarooCourts.

State Prosecutor in #EminAdnan case claims that police rounded up both bloggers in 'Lebanese' restaurant after they have quarreled and beaten two innocent guys who had just politely asked them to be quite and not to swear. But, there are photos, after all! Taken by friends of #EminAdnan while they were painstakingly waiting for police to receive their complaints. I've taken those photos from a press-release of the [Azeri] Committee to Protect Youth [that is #EminAdnan] and posted them here.