Azerbaijani government not amused
Two Azerbaijani bloggers face up to five years jail after
they posted a video of a donkey giving a press conference.
Apparently the government of Azerbaijan was not amused by
the video which was made by Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 29. The video looks a bit like an Apple press conference,
only the journalists are nodding gravely rather than worshiping the person
conducting the press conference.
In this case it is bloke dressed up as a donkey who
extols the virtues of life in Azerbaijan and praises the government for its
fair treatment of the four-legged beasts. All seems harmless but apparently Azerbaijan police have
arrested the pair and locked them up pending a September trial.
Authorities claim there is no political motive behind the
arrests because the pair were arrested after a fight in a night club. A lawyer for the men said the pair were arrested when
they went to a police station to file a complaint about a bloke who attacked
them. However supporters claim that it is the beginning of a
crackdown on new media and an effort to stamp out online dissent.
Hajizade, is the co-founder of the OL (To Be) youth
movement and Milli, a co-founder of online television channel AN Network. They
are both Western-educated children of opposition activists. They are pretty much at the centre of a vibrant online
community in Azerbaijan. The oil rich country has never really lost its love of
post communist control.