An imprisoned opposition activist with Azerbaijan Popular Front Party has been on hunger strike for more than 60 days.
Zamin Salayev’s lawyer, who last met with his client on April 7, said Salayev’s health is deteriorating.
“There are already lesions on his body, he has lost a lot of weight,” Nemat Karimli told VOA, adding that Salayev is not being closely monitored by doctors.
According to Karimli, Salayev is determined to continue his hunger strike until he is released.
“He says ‘either freedom or death.’ He will continue his hunger strike until he dies,” Karimli said.
Salayev was detained on February 8 and ordered to serve three months of pretrial detention on charges of “hooliganism.” If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
He was arrested after “an unidentified person stabbed a resident of Sahil district, Natiq Suleymanov, in the stomach and hand, and then left the scene. The victim was hospitalized. Qaradagh District Police Department detained Zamin [Alzamin] Salayev as a suspect in the stabbing,” the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told VOA by telephone.
Salayev denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated.
His lawyer told VOA: “He [Salayev] said the criminal case is fabricated. A person insulted him and attacked him with a knife in his hand when he was getting out of a taxi in Baku's Lokbatan district. A few minutes later police officers detained Zamin.”
Activists facing ‘hooliganism’ crimes
Azerbaijani authorities often use “hooliganism” charges to detain opposition activists.
In November 2021, Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Agil Humbatov, another activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, to 10 years in prison. He was charged with “intentionally causing serious harm to health in a generally dangerous manner with the intention of hooliganism.” Human rights defenders identify him as a political prisoner.
On April 11, Humbatov’s wife, Aygun Humbatova, held a protest in front of the Ministry of Justice, claiming that Humbatov was not provided with proper medical care in the penitentiary.
"I am very worried about his health, there are problems related to his health. I have appealed many times to the Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman, the Red Cross, and all they say is that they will take care of the matter, but no one does anything. Agil is dying in prison,” she told VOA.
Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, another prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist, was arrested on December 9, 2022, and also charged with “hooliganism” and contempt of court. He was ordered by the Khatai District Court to spend one and a half months of pretrial detention. His pretrial detention has been been extended to April 28.
On April 7, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision to deny a petition filed by Karimli to release Salayev on house arrest.
Karimli told VOA that the pretrial investigation of the case was completed on April 6 and there is no basis to keep Salayev in prison.
Karimli said Salayev’s supporters will appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights.
International rights groups routinely catalog abuses and dubious charges against opposition politicians and rights activists in Azerbaijan.
This story originated in VOA’s Azerbaijani service. Tapdiq Guliyev contributed.
