Azerbaijani rights defender goes on hunger strike in colony

Aliabbas Rustamov, a rights defender has been hunger-striking in his colony for five days already, demanding a positive decision on his conditional early relief (CER), Azerbaijani journalist, Shakhveled Chobanoglu, has informed today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 28, 2018, the lawyer, Aliabbas Rustamov, the head of the law firm "Esaul", was detained under the article of bribe-giving and sentenced to seven years in custody; later, the term was reduced to six years.

Today, Shakhveled Chobanoglu, an investigative journalist, has reported that Rustamov told him about the hunger strike, which he began on July 25. By his action, Rustamov tries to draw attention to his case on the eve of consideration of his appeal for CER, which will be held on August 7 at the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan, Mr Chobanoglu has explained.

"Earlier this year, Aliabbas Rustamov appealed to the court about his CER after having served two-thirds of his term. The court rejected his request; on March 1, the Baku Appeal Court upheld this decision. Now the SC will consider the Rustamov's cassation appeal," Shakhveled Chobanoglu told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, Rustamov insists on his innocence.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 29, 2019 at 04:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.