Rights defenders count 161 political prisoners in Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani Centre for Protection of Political Prisoners (CPPP) has updated the list of political prisoners by adding three new convicts and eliminating one released.

To date, 161 people are on the list of political prisoners compiled by the Azerbaijani Centre for Protection of Political Prisoners. For the period passed since the publication of the previous list of political prisoners in November 2017, only one political prisoner journalist Makhbub Zulfugarly, was released, reported Ogtai Gyulyalyev, one of the coordinators of the CPPP, the leader of the public alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners".

Meanwhile, according to Ogtai Gyulyalyev, during that period, three persons were arrested and met the criteria of the concept of a political prisoner, as defined by the PACE.

"Their numbers includes Emin Shagiev, a relative of opposition journalist Turkel Azerturk in political emigration in Europe, who was arrested on the charge of drug trafficking. Alikram Khurshudov, the leader of the Shirvan organization of the 'Musavat' Party, accused of disorderly conduct and use of violence against policemen, was also recognized as a political prisoner," Ogtai Gyulyalyev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Ogtai Gyulyalyev, one more new political prisoner is believer Elshan Abbasov, who is charged with trafficking in drugs and weapons.

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