Two face jail after Azeri donkey speaks
TWO BLOGGERS from Azerbaijan are facing up to five years in jail after posting a video of a donkey giving a news conference on YouTube. Shortly after the video was posted, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli were held on hooliganism charges following a scuffle in a restaurant.
In the widely seen video, the donkey extols the benefits of living in Azerbaijan and praises the government for its positive attitude towards donkeys. It has been seen by some as a send-up of government news conferences, which critics say are often little more than propaganda events.
“This incident is politically motivated,” said the bloggers’ lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov. “My clients did not beat anybody, quite the opposite.”
A government official denied that the arrest was politically motivated. “People are not arrested in Azerbaijan because of political activity,” said Ali Hasnov, a senior adviser to President Ilham Aliyev, in a statement.
“There was a scuffle between some young people and some of them were injured.”