Their cases went to the heart of the West’s balancing act with the oil-producing country, an energy supplier to Europe and a transit route for US troops in Afghanistan, but where democratic freedoms are shrinking under President Ilham Aliyev.
US President Barack Obama joined in September calls for the release of Adnan Hajizade, 27, and Emin Milli, 31, arrested in July 2009 and convicted of hooliganism over an alleged brawl in a Baku restaurant.
Their supporters say they were victims of an unprovoked attack, jailed as a warning to other activists after posting a satirical swipe at authorities in the former Soviet republic in which Hajizade held a fake news conference dressed as a donkey.
Hajizade was released by the Baku appeals court on Thursday and Milli joined him on Friday. The ruling did not overturn their convictions.
“Our arrests and the accusations against us were baseless,” Milli told Reuters at his family home. “We will secure a just verdict when we regain our strength after getting out of jail.”
Rights groups and Western diplomats say the mainly Muslim country, its economy booming on the back of oil revenues, has grown increasingly authoritarian since Aliyev succeeded his father, long-serving leader Heydar Aliyev, in 2003.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) welcomed the release of the bloggers, and urged Azerbaijan to also free outspoken journalist Eynulla Fatullayev.
“The Azerbaijani authorities should now build on this trend and release Fatullayev from custody without delay,” said OSCE freedom of media representative Dunja Mijatovic. “Our societies should not be afraid of spoken and written words.”
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in April that Fatullayev’s 2007 conviction on charges of terrorism, inciting ethnic hatred and tax evasion was illegal.
An Azeri court upheld the European ruling in July but handed Fatullayev another 30 months on a drugs charge that his supporters say was fabricated to keep him behind bars.
