RWB call for urgent medical help to Polad Aslanov

The human rights organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to provide urgent medical help to Polad Aslanov, who has been on a hunger strike for ten days already and has been kept in custody for 19 months. Polad Aslanov's state of health has received no attention from the Penitentiary Service and the administration of the detention centre, his wife has complained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 16, 2020, the court sentenced Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Internet editions "Xeberman.com" and "Press-az.com", to 16 years of freedom deprivation under the treason case. On February 1, 2021, Aslanov went on a hunger strike.

In their statement, the RWB recalled that Polad Aslanov was arrested in June 2019 and "was convicted on trumped-up charges of high treason."

"We hereby urge Azerbaijani authorities to urgently provide him with medical help and ensure a fair hearing when the court considers his appeal on February 15," said Zhanna Cavelier, the head of the RWB's division for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, whose words are quoted in the RWB's statement.

Gyulmira Aslanova, Polad's wife, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that her husband was continuing his hunger strike. "But he hasn't been isolated yet. He has no medical supervision; they don't even measure his blood tension. The only time he was examined by a doctor who came with the staff of the ombudsperson's office two days ago, after I had repeatedly appealed to them. This was the only body to react to his hunger strike," said Gyulmira Aslanova.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 10, 2021 at 08:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.