Azerbaijan: hunger-striking journalist Ragimov states serious health deterioration

Journalist Ikram Ragimov, who is on a hunger strike at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), has reported, in a telephone conversation with his cousin, that he continues his protest action despite a serious deterioration of his health.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 12, a court in Baku found Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the "Realliq.info" website, guilty of extortion, and sentenced him to 5.5 years in prison. The verdict was appealed against; and the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) appointed the consideration of the complaint on the merits for August 21. Ragimov, who went on a hunger strike on August 7, demands an objective review of his appeal at the BCA.

Galib Gasanov, a Ragimov's cousin, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Ikram phoned him on August 16 and said he was continuing his hunger strike. "Ikram said that he felt very bad, but intended to continue his protest until his demands were fulfilled, even if it would cost him the loss of life," said Gasanov.

Ikram Ragimov demands from the court to re-question the witnesses and victims, who had earlier testified in his favour, and believes that the minutes of the court sessions had been falsified, while the interrogation materials obtained at the preliminary investigation were included into his verdict. Ragimov insists on re-examination of the audio records of his telephone conversations with the victims in the case, since he believes that the records had been edited.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 16, 2019 at 08:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.