Azerbaijani oppositionists demand data on Gasanov's hunger strike at SIZO

The activist, Ismail Gasanov, who on August 16 went on a hunger strike in the Baku SIZO (pre-trial prison), received no permit to make phone calls to his relatives, and has not passed information through his cellmates for two days, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Ismail Gasanov, a PFPA activist, has been on a hunger strike at the Baku SIZO since August 16, protesting against his criminal prosecution and violation of his right to phone conversations with his family.

Since August 18, PFPA activists have no new information about Ismail Gasanov, although they tried to find out what had happened to him, Ilham Gusein a member of the PFPA Presidium, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The problem is that Ismail is not allowed to call home. Sometimes he manages to transmit some information via his cellmates, who are allowed to call home. But after August 18, there is no information from him; his advocate also knows nothing about him. Since we have received no confirmation that Ismail began eating, we believe that he continues his hunger strike. We are concerned about the lack of information about Ismail over the past two days from reliable sources," Mr Gusein has added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 20, 2020 at 08:26 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.