Ali S. Novruzov

I am an ordinary blogger from the Republic of Azerbaijan – a tiny country between the East and the West. I have a personal blog titled In Mutatione Fortitudo and write regular posts for UK-based Frontline Club. You can also follow my tweets here.

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Latest posts by Ali S. Novruzov

Azerbaijan: Activists’ support site goes down

Yesterday, as Önər Blog [AZ] reported, the Appellate Court in Baku was to consider again the case of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, the recently beaten and detained youth activists and bloggers sentenced last week. Yesterday, however, one of the main websites created in their defense went down.

19 July 2009

Azerbaijan: Last tweet before arrest

Emin Milli, one of two youth and civil society activists severly beaten and jailed for two months for hooliganism in Baku last week, sent a tweet back on 24th June. Not only was it the last before his arrest, but it was also particularly poignant.

13 July 2009

Azerbaijan: Youth activists and bloggers beaten and detained

Emin Milli, one of the founders of AN Network, a grassroots youth movement and Adnan Hadji-zadeh, a videoblogger from OL! Youth Movement have been severely beaten by unidentified persons while dining with a group of other civil society and youth activists in a restaurant in downtown Baku.

8 July 2009

Azerbaijan: Youth activist expelled from university

According to information spread by the Dalga Youth Movement, Parviz Azimov, the head of its Southern Regional Office, has been expelled from university. Both inside and outside Azerbaijan, bloggers are concerned by the action taken against the student activist.

18 April 2009

Azerbaijan: Bloggers react to controversial referendum

Yesterday Azerbaijan went to the polls to vote on amendments to the country's constitution less than six months after its president, Ilham Aliyev, won re-election to a second term in office. With the changes — and especially one lifting the two-term limit on the presidency — stirring up controversy from the very beginning, local and foreign bloggers alike comment on the conduct and outcome of the referendum.

19 March 2009

Azerbaijan: Civil Society, Opposition Groups Unite as Referendum Approaches

Better known for their bitter divisions and rivalries, civil society and opposition groups in Azerbaijan are slowly uniting as a national referendum aimed at removing the presidential two-term limit approaches. Perceived by many as a threat to democratization in the former Soviet republic and accompanied by a ban on foreign broadcasting in the country, blogs and social networking sites are being used to protest the impending vote.

16 January 2009

Azerbaijan: Foreign Broadcasts Banned Ahead of Constitutional Referendum

As the country prepared to see in the New Year, Azerbaijan's National Council for Television and Radio banned international radio stations from broadcasting on national frequencies. The decision was effective from 1 January 2009 and affected three radio stations broadcasting on the FM frequency. In a region where tight government control defines the media, the ban was seen by some as an attack on the last remnants of free speech in Azerbaijan.

4 January 2009