In Baku, relatives of convicted oppositionists stop their hunger strike

Today, the hunger strike in defence of rights of the oppositional activists convicted in connection with the rally of April 2, which was held at the headquarters of the "Musavat" Party in Baku, was stopped. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Gezyal Bairamly, Deputy Chair of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), that the decision to stop the hunger strike was made by the Committee of the convicts' family members.

Let us remind you that on October 14 the parents of the oppositional activists, who had been convicted of participation in the rally on April 2, went on a hunger strike, demanding to release their sons. On October 16, two other oppositionists joint the hunger strike protest of the parents of the convicted oppositional activists.

Gezyal Bairamly herself also participated in the hunger strike during three days.

According to her, they decided to use other forms of protest next week, including pickets in front of various public organizations.

In total, for a week, 10 people - relatives of several prisoners and activists of opposition parties - participated by turn in the action.

They demanded to release 13 oppositional activists, who had been sentenced to 1.5-3 years of imprisonment in connection with the rally of April 2, and other activists sentenced to imprisonment - Shakhin Gasanli, the head of the PFPA's division, the human rights activist Vidadi Iskenderli (Iskenderov), young bloggers Bakhtiyar Gadjiev and Jabbar Salavan and others.

Let us note that today the journalists asked Matthew Bryza, US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, to comment on the hunger strike protest, demanding to release the oppositional activists arrested in connection with the rally of April 2. The US Ambassador expressed his regret over the imprisonment of the rally participants.

"We have expressed our regret over the arrests of people for expressing their position. A fair trial should be ensured for each person of those arrested activists. The other day, I heard the good news. The court of appeal cut the sentence to an arrested activist (US Ambassador mentions cut of imprisonment sentence to Elshan Gasanov, the activist of the "Musavat" Party, from 2 to 1 year of imprisonment, - note of the "Caucasian Knot")," stated Mr Bryza.

In her turn, Elmira Suleimanova, the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, in her conversation with the journalists reported that she had been informed about the hunger strike. However, she said, Ombudsman cannot intervene in this matter, since "there was a court verdict".

However, Elmira Suleimanova emphasized that on the other day members of the Ombudsman's office visited the oppositional activists, who had been convicted in connection with the rally of April 2, in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Baku and asked about conditions of their detention. According to the members of the Ombudsman's office, the prisoners did not complain about conditions of their detention; however, they spoke about biased investigation and the imposition of unfair sentences.