Colleagues stand up for arrested comic Idrak Mirzalizade

Dozens of artists recorded a video appeal in support of ethnic Talysh Idrak Mirzalizade, who was arrested for ten days for his joke about xenophobia in Moscow. Comics announced a concert in support of arrested Idrak Mirzalizade.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in July, the Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow instituted a case against Idrak Mirzalizade on ethnic humiliation.

After a joke about xenophobes, Idrak Mirzalizade was hit after his performance. Attackers demanded from him to apologize, but the comic refused. According to Idrak Mirzalizade, three weeks before the attack, he received several thousand threats, and in Penza, a man went to a picket with a poster reading: “Idrak Mirzalizade is an enemy of the Russian people!” “A monetary award was announced for my head, and that is why I was attacked in Moscow on June 23,” the comic complained.

Several dozen Russian comics posted a video appeal in support of Idrak Mirzalizade on the Stand-Up Club YouTube channel. They note that he “just wanted to point out the problem of xenophobia.”

During the consideration of the case in court, Idrak Mirzalizade apologized to people who might be offended by his joke, but he refused to admit his guilt in inciting ethnic hatred, the Russian news agency (RIA) “Novosti” reports.