Alizamin Salaev complains about lack of medical care in penal colony

Alizamin Salaev, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), has complained about the lack of medical assistance in a penal colony where he is serving his sentence. The activist suffers from heart disease and needs hospitalization, his son reports.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Alizamin Salaev complained about beatings at the penal colony after he declared a hunger strike in solidarity with Tofig Yagublu. Alizamin Salaev is serving the sentence on the charge of defamation and insult after disseminating on social media a video criticizing a policeman.

The son of Alizamin Salaev said that his father’s health deteriorated in detention. “There are no air conditioners in detention facilities, and there are not enough fans in the Azerbaijani penal colonies. When the heat reaches 40 °C, there is terrible stuffiness in cells, and it is extremely hard for prisoners. And for my father, who suffers from a heart disease, it is just torture to stay in such conditions together with other 100 people. My father has heart attacks three or four times a day. But they do not transfer my father to a hospital. He protests against such a refusal in hospitalization. Apparently, they intentionally provoke my father to place him to a punishment cell on the eve of the consideration of his appeal on conditional early relief (CER) on August 6,” Ogtai Salaev, the son of Alizamin Salaev, suggested.

The Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijani Penitentiary Service denied the allegations that Alizamin Salaev had not been provided with medical assistance and stated that he had no health problems.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2021 at 07:02 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.