November 11

Yesterday, November 11th, was the day when a court decision in the capital of Baku changed lives of two young bloggers- Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada sentencing them to imprisonment based on faked charges of hooliganism and inflicting of intentional body harm exactly a year ago on this day. 

Also yesterday, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan agreed to finally approve the verdict to release Eynulla Fatullayev issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). While initially local news outlets reported on most of the charges against arrested journalist and editor-in-chief of Realniy Azerbaijan imprisoned in 2007 drop, it didn't take long for the Supreme Court come up with a reason to keep him in prison. 

The Supreme Court, retroactively increased the sentence on tax evasion- initially two months- to two years and three months and 15 days. Eynulla already served two years and three months worth of his sentence, however, in December 2009, he was given additional charge for drug possession ( in prison (dismissed by Fatullayev himself however not accepted at the court). So, with this final decision, and the total time Eynulla already served, the Court managed to keep him in prison and claim that the time he has spent already in prison will be deducted from the time he was charged with tax evasion (which is exactly two years, three months and 15 days) and keep him for drug possession.

According to Elchin Sadigov, the lawyer of the arrested journalist "The Plenum had not authority to retroactively increase the prison sentence for the defendant".   

Sitting at a 7th South Caucasus Media Conference in the capital of Georgia, organized by the OSCE,  and listening to the representative from Azerbaijan Presidential Apparatus saying that Emin and Adnan were just hooligans, arrested with other 2000 hooligans in 2009, one cannot but wonder where Azerbaijan is going... Its so ironic that whenever it works for the government and authorities it claims that it follows European or American standards but for some reason none of these standards are applied on the ground when it comes to many things, including freedom of media, access to information, journalists' safety and much more...

Pur pur and few personal reflections on Tbilisi

Pur pur, basement

I discovered this place with a good friend of mine, who lives in Tbilisi, Temo (who happens to be an author of an interesting blog on Georgia with a cool name- GMT: Georgian "Maybe" Time). It was late in the evening when we went there the first time and I absolutely loved the place. Later it became one of my meeting points with Georgian friends. 

During my most recent visits to this lovely city I discovered another place, a bar with a stunning view of Tbilisi city- Tiflis Veranda- and I need to thank my friend Giorgi for introducing me this lovely venue. The venue is just behind the Turkish Hamams, next to Haydar Aliyev Park. 

But this recent trip was also special in a different way. I got to experience the TbiliSoba, which is a Georgian Festival with lots of music, people and smell of shashlik (kebabs) all over the city.  But its not just about food and souvenirs. For a week, there are exhibitions, fares, concerts, performances, and many other activities held all around the city. For me, it was the first time I saw winding streets of old Tbilisi over crowded with people of all ages. 

Khinkali

Moving on to another great experience of this stay, which was eating home made Georgian khinkali- courtesy of my dearest friend Temo's mom. Of course I have tried them at restaurants and even had them once in Baku at my friend's apartment who was Dutch but loved Georgian cuisine and wine too. I wish I had taken pictures, unfortunately I didn't but it was absolutely delicious. 

Old town

And before I forget, the ice cream place- Luca Polare- in the old town, serving some of the best gelati in town. Owned by an Italian, it is indeed outstanding. It also serves coffee and goodies like chocolate chip cookies. I must extend my greetings to all my friends who made my most recent visit to that place fun!

Ah... one can go on and on about this city and I think this wont be my last post (nor it is the first). Its just a city worth visiting and not just once, but several times (plus the country side is stunning). 

    

TbiliSoba 

Tradition Georgian food at TbiliSoba

stairs of an old apartment in old town

From TbiliSoba