In Azerbaijan, leader of Committee against Torture visits arrested youth activists

On January 6, young activists, who were arrested in Baku after the protest actions held on December 29 and who went on hunger strike in detention, were visited by Elchin Bekhbudov, the leader of the Azerbaijani Committee against Torture. He promised to pass the requests of the young people regarding their conditions of detention to the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 29, about 50 young people gathered in the centre of Baku to protest against incitement to suicide of disabled Zaur Gasanov, who died from burns resulting from self-immolation. Policemen dispersed the protest action and detained six of the most active protestors. The court found them guilty of disobeying police and sentenced them to 15-18 days of administrative arrest. According to their relatives, on December 30, five of the six young men went on hunger strike in detention; however, on January 1, they began to take food again at the insistence of their parents.

The hunger-strikers' demands include to provide heating and water supply to wards, improve the quality of food and keeping all of them at the same ward. Elchin Bekhbudov, the leader of the Azerbaijani Committee against Torture, who visited the activists on January 6, raised those issues in his conversation with the administration of the detention facility.

Elchin Bekhbudov has also reported that on January 7, he will appeal to the MIA's leaders to consider the possibility of providing the arrested activists with more varied food products and investigating their other complaints.