Rights defenders claim 165 political prisoners in Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani Centre for Defence of Political Prisoners has updated the list of political prisoners, by adding four new arrested ones and excluding one inmate found dead at the SIZO (pre-trial prison). The total number of political prisoners on the list is 165 persons; the new list was presented at a press conference on June 6.

Over the past two months, we saw stronger pressure on the civil society and the opposition, Ogtay Gyulyalyev, the head of the Public Alliance "Azerbaijan Without Political Prisoners", said at the press conference.

"Unfortunately, in recent days, a new wave of arrests has been launched: four new persons were added to the list. Gezyal Bairamly, the deputy chair of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was arrested on her return from Georgia; then, the investigative journalist Afghan Mukhtarly was kidnapped in Georgia and in fact handed over to Azerbaijani law enforcers. In Baku, they arrested Aziz Orudjov, the head of the Internet-based "Kanal-13" TV Channel. Some time earlier, Natig Shakhbazov, a resident of the settlement of Nardaran, was arrested a little earlier – this is the fourth member of the Shakhbazov family, arrested after the special operation conducted in November 2015 in Nardaran against believers," said Gyulyalyev, adding that political motives of prosecuting these people cause no doubt.

He continued by saying that after the previous update of the list of political prisoners, on April 1 this year, the death at the SIZO of the activist Mekhman Galandarov became a serious loss.

"We have little faith in Galandarov's suicide. In the context of recent events, the political nature of Galandarov's case becomes even more evident: Mekhman was denied refuge by Georgian authorities; and he was forced to return to Baku, where he was placed in jail," Mr Gyulyalyev has concluded.

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