Nemat Panakhly transferred to prison hospital

Nemat Panakhly, the leader of the National Statehood Party, who is serving his term at the Gobustan closed prison, has been transferred to the medical facility of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Justice (MoJ). His wife fears for his health condition.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Nemat Panakhly and his friend Djeikhun Farzaliev were detained on January 8, 2011, following a complaint of a citizen, who stated that they had beaten him up. On June 17, 2011, the Nasimi District Court of Baku sentenced Nemat Panakhly to six years in prison.

"Nemat suffers from diabetes and kidney disease; the state of his health over the period of imprisonment has deteriorated; however, recently he felt himself more or less tolerable. We don't understand the reasons for his hasty transfer to the hospital," said his wife Gadjar Panakhly.

She added that, despite the expiry on February 25 of the three-year term of Panakhly's toughened prison regime, he was not returned to the colony.

"Nemat Panakhly was punished for disclosing facts of violence applied to inmates. In 2012, an inmate Parviz Mikailov was killed in Colony No. 17. Panakhly conveyed this information to the media, after which he was put into a dungeon for 20 days," said Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners.

Mr Gasanov finds it a must to release Panakhly "at least on humanitarian grounds," because of his serious health problems. To do so, he said, may be expected within decree on pardon on the occasion of the spring holiday Novruz Bayram.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.