Activist physically abused in custody

It is reported about the pressure in colony N10 on a member of the board of the Confederation of Trade Unions Aykhan Israfilov. His mother Amina Israfilova told Turan that her son was held in the Umbaki pre-trial detention center, from where he was transferred to a colony on June 29 after the decision of the Baku Court of Appeal. 

"But we did not know which colony and applied to the Penitentiary Service, however, received no response there. The office of the Ombudsman informed us that he is in quarantine in colony N17.

According to Amina Israfilova, she was unable to contact her son, although two weeks had passed: "Yesterday we went to correctional institution No. 17, gave the documents, waited 1 hour for admission, and finally we were told that he was not here. From there we went to the nearby correctional institution No. 2. After going through the same procedure, we were told that he was not there either," she said. The activist's mother said that Israfilov had lost weight and was not feeling well: "She said that when he was transferred to a correctional institution, his medicines were seen during the inspection of his belongings.

Ayhan said that he is a disabled person of the 2nd group. When they tried to take away the medicines, Ayhan protested and then he was beaten. After that, he was given dirty clothes and bad food. As a result, he lost a lot of weight," said the mother. It was not possible to find out the position of the Penitentiary Service on this issue.

*A. Israfilov was detained on August 11, 2023 and charged with drug trafficking. He became the third trade union activist detained after the couriers' action on August 1. Afiyaddin Mammadov, the head of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, was arrested for 30 days in an administrative case. Elvin Mustafayev was accused of drug trafficking and arrested for 4 months.