Blogger Mehman Huseynov is halfway to death

A lawyer Shahla Huseynova reported that the health of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, who was on a hunger strike in jail No. 14, is critical. She and her colleague Fuad Agayev met with Huseynov in the jail on December 28. Mehman is starting to prevent the second criminal charge and the court against him on the eve of the completion of the first sentence. On December 26, an investigation was launched against a blogger. He was charged under the Article 317.2 (violation of the normal activities of the institution for serving a sentence or in the pre-trial detention center) of the Criminal Code. Huseynov is charged with using force against the prison officer Ali Abdalov, that does not pose a danger to life and health. Under this Article, Huseynov faces from 5 to 7 years in prison. Two months left to his release from the first term. According to official information, on December 26, about half a thousand manat were found with the prisoner Mehman Huseynov, a conflict broke out, and Huseynov beat the officer. First time he was sentenced for allegedly slander to a police chief. Mehman said that he was beaten in the police office, the policeman sued, and the blogger was imprisoned for two years.

"Mehman does not take either food or water, denies the accusation. He said that the prison officer himself fell to the floor and started shouting that "Mehman hit me," the lawyer said. "When Mehman was brought to our meeting, he could not walk on his own, was very weak and was kept on both sides. He said that he would continue his hunger strike to death if the illegal case is not stopped", the lawyer said.

It is assumed that the new accusation against the blogger was put forward as a punishment for his words that the authorities killed his mother. Allegedly, Mehman said so during his mother"s funeral, when he was briefly released from prison in August 2018. Human rights activists are convinced that Huseynov is being persecuted for exposing corruption among high-ranking officials, as well as criticizing the authorities. The democratic public of the country is in alarm for the life of Mehman. There are calls to quickly take decisive action to prevent the blogger from dying in the jail.

Mehman Huseynov wrote letters to Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova, President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. Letters were submitted to the administration of the jail N 14 in the presence of lawyers.

The former political prisoner, the chairman of the REAL party, Ilgar Mammadov, appealed to the PACE rapporteur on political prisoners through Twitter, asking his committee to urgently arrive in Baku, to which he replied that he could not arrive in Azerbaijan so soon. This means, Mamedov concluded, that the PACE decisions on political prisoners in Azerbaijan can be made no earlier than 2020.

"They couldn"t find a smarter cause two months before his release, and having sewed a new article, decided to keep the person under arrest. And this is not the first case in the last four months. It is a shame! Why do not they punish an employee who allowed the so-called "five hundred thousand" to the jail?", said with indignation a human rights activist Saida Gojamanly.

Human rights activist Eldar Zeynalov believes that the official version of what happened is false. He found flaws in the investigation version:

1. The officer"s physical training was at zero, if a weak boy-photographer who was freed from the army for health reasons, could beat him up (there is a medical unit in the jail, and only a serious injury can bring to the Ambulance).

2. Educational training is at zero: The guy recently was given a leave from the jail, which means that his behavior was good. What happened that he became so brutal if the last three months the prisoners are prepared for release, i.e. to a law abiding life?

3. The regime work is at zero, since it is possible to bring almost 500 thousand manats to the jail. It is too bad because they did not find out which of the workers allowed it; and it is very-very bad if they didn"t have a general "search" and didn"t find out how many thousands of manats still walk through the "zone".

4. Another question about the prison stall: how are purchases paid there (if not in cash), do the prisoners have personal accounts in a bank (including Mehman), whether bank details of their accounts are known and used by prisoners and their families?

How much money is on the accounts of prisoners of the jail No.14? Taking into account the fact that up to 50 manat can be spent on the general regime per month, and the stall works with full load, these accounts should have up to 45-50 thousand manats per month or about half a million per year, and all the prison accounting should be busy by transferring this money. If this is not so, then there is no need even for evidence that illegal cash in circulation in jail, and the amount withdrawn from Mehman is just a drop in the ocean.

The situation described by the administration should cause the most stringent conclusions. Otherwise, the version about the extension of the prison term will look irrefutable," wrote Zeynalov on the social network.

The head of the Public Relations Department of the Prison Service, Mehman Sadigov, told Voice of America that the prisoner who went on a hunger strike must declare it to the authorities of the institution (jail), after which the protester is transferred to a separate unit and he is assigned medical control and other measures.

On Sunday, December 30, 2018, was the fourth day of the dry hunger strike. Doctors claim that during the dry hunger strike, irreversible processes begin in the body on the third day, and it becomes very difficult to save a person after five or seven days of the dry hunger strike. The main danger in the so-called dry fast is dehydration, water loss is below the physiological norm. Dehydration of the body by only a few percent leads to disruption of its vital activity. If the amount of water that a person loses reaches 10% of body weight per day, a significant decrease in efficiency occurs, and if it increases to 25%, then this usually leads to death. When the body loses 1-5% percent of the liquid, there is acute thirst, feeling sick, slow movements, drowsiness, skin redness, fever, nausea, indigestion. With a loss of 6-10% - shortness of breath, headache, tingling in the legs and arms, lack of salivation, loss of ability to move and violation of speech logic. With a loss of 11-20% - delirium, muscle spasms, swelling of the tongue, dull hearing and sight, cooling the body. Long-term (more than 1-2 days) refusal to eat food and water has a negative impact on human health. Loss of water, causing a drastic decrease in body weight and a failure of metabolic processes, is life threatening. Water deprivation of a healthy person leads to death in 7-10 days, and in hot dry conditions - in 3-5 days.

The president can stop a dry hunger strike, save the life of Mehman by ordering ahead of time to release the prisoner from the jail, as well as the investigator and the prosecutor's office, deciding to stop the lawsuit against the blogger Huseynov. If this is not done, or if the blogger does not stop the hunger strike, he will die. The tragedy which has not yet come, but is approaching, is on the conscience of the authorities from beginning to end.