OSCE anger at Azerbaijan bloggers' sentence

European security watchdog the OSCE condemned the jailing of two bloggers in Azerbaijan who posted a satirical Internet video of a donkey giving a press conference.

Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 30, were found guilty of hooliganism over a scuffle at a restaurant in Baku, and jailed for two and two-and-a-half years respectively. The bloggers said they were targeted for political reasons because of their online criticism of authorities in the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, media freedom representative Miklos Haraszti wrote to Azerbaijan's foreign minister after the judgment Wednesday to protest. He said it confirmed the country's status as the "pre-eminent jailer of journalists" in the OSCE region.

"The severity of the sentences for these young bloggers and other journalists who have criticised the authorities, including the president and the interior minister, is self-revealingly political," Haraszti said. "I hope that the appeals court will reverse the decision and release Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade as soon as possible. This will demonstrate to the international community that Azerbaijan takes seriously the OSCE media freedom commitments it has taken upon itself," Haraszti said.

Rights groups said the court's decision was a political one, aimed at stifling independent media and anti-government activists. Dozens of journalists have been jailed in recent years under laws that make libel a criminal offence, rather than a civil matter, as in many Western countries. Azerbaijan last year banned foreign broadcasts, effectively ending local-language broadcasts by the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Liberty.