After a rejected appeal, supporters of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada have taken another step to try and get the bloggers released by sending a letter to Congress.
The letter asks Congress to send letters of support to Azerbaijan authorities before Milli and Hajizada go to trial on Sept. 8. The youth activists have been in pretrial detention since July 8, after a fight at a restaurant in the country's capital, Baku. The letter said they were arrested on false charges and are being imprisoned for their videos and blog posts, which satirize the government.
On Aug. 10, a district court in Azerbaijan ruled against an appeal filed by Milli and Hajizada, claiming that police had presumed they were guilty and did not complete a proper investigation.
"The only hope for their release," the letter reads, "lays with the reaction of the leaders of the international democratic community, whose opinion the government of Azerbaijan will not be able to ignore."
Contact staff writer Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu
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