10:58, 2 September 2019

Rights defenders update list of Azerbaijani political prisoners

A participant of the rally holds the political prisoner's photo. Baku, October 28, 2017. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the "Caucasian Knot"

Now, the list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan includes 117 persons, including one human rights defender, six journalists and 55 believers, the "Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" (UFPPA) has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 10, the UFPPA published the previous list of political prisoners, which included 107 people.

"The journalist, Seimur Khazi, Azad Gasanov, an activist of the 'Musavat' Party, and one religious activist, who were released in August, have quitted the list," said Elshan Gasanov, the coordinator of the UFPPA.

However, according to his story, in the category of "Convicts within Ganja Case", 13 more persons were added to the previously included 18 political prisoners.

Several other believers were convicted within other cases.

The problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan has existed for more than a quarter of a century, Leyla Yunus, the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 1, 2019 at 02:32 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent