Advocate claims obstacles while attempting to visit Azerbaijani journalist in penal colony

The Azerbaijani Penitentiary Service refused advocate Elchin Sadygov to visit his client journalist Ikram Ragimov. The Penitentiary Service explained its refusal by the fact that in his appeal, the defender did not indicate the title of the Penitentiary Service's head.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 12, in Baku, a court found Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the "Realliq.info" website, guilty of extortion, and sentenced him to 5.5 years of imprisonment. On August 7, Ikram Ragimov went on a hunger strike, and on September 5, he stopped his protest action. On September 18, the court reduced the journalist's sentence to three years of imprisonment. On the same day, the journalist resumed his hunger strike with the demand of his complete acquittal.

According to advocate Elchin Sadygov, the Azerbaijani Penitentiary Service uses a pretext to delay the consideration of advocate's visits to Ikram Ragimov.

"After the sentenced journalist's transfer to a penal colony, he is being kept in a quarantine unit for about two weeks and no one is allowed to visit him ... In fact, this is a violation of the right to defence," Elchin Sadygov stated.

Let us remind you that on September 18, the international human rights organization "Freedom House" condemned the prosecution of Ikram Ragimov.