Activist's Health Deteriorates in Pretrial Detention

Nijat Ibrahim, a public activist currently detained in a pretrial facility, is suffering from health problems. “Doctors have stated that Nijat's heath is not good, and there are life-threatening risks. The cut on his throat poses a danger to his life,” his wife, Parvin Ibrahim, reported to Turan on November 1.

Ibrahim inflicted a knife wound to his throat while in police custody, protesting against the physical violence he faced. He took this drastic step in response to police demands that he confess to drug-related crimes, as his wife explained.

Nijat Ibrahim is suffering from his wounds, with his wife noting that a severed tendon has left one of his fingers non-functional, and the condition of his throat wounds is poor. After filing complaints about police violence, Ibrahim was only summoned for questioning 37 days later. As a result, the bruises and contusions from the alleged police abuse had faded by that time, his wife stated.

She also mentioned that her husband has ended his prolonged hunger strike. During this period, he was taken to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital in the village of Mashtaga.

*Nijat Ibrahim was arrested by police on September 9 on charges of intentionally causing serious bodily harm (Article 126.1 of the Criminal Code). Since October 5, he has been on hunger strike in the pretrial detention center in protest against a travel ban imposed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On September 6, border guards prevented him from boarding a flight from Baku to Chișinău, citing the travel ban, while allowing his wife and two minor children to board the plane. Following this incident, he called the Ministry of Internal Affairs demanding the cancellation of the ban and threatened to set himself on fire in front of their building. He was subsequently arrested on September 9 and charged.

** In 2021, Nijat Ibrahim was previously charged and arrested, resulting in a 15-month prison sentence for violating quarantine regulations. His arrest stemmed from a solo protest he staged in front of the presidential administration.