"Arrested women are subjected to illegal deprivations" - Elnara Gasimova

Elnara Gasimova, an employee of Abzas Media, who is being held in the Baku pretrial detention center No. 1, addressed the public.

In her message, she draws attention to how "women deprived of their liberty are subjected to lawlessness, physical and psychological violence, and inhuman treatment" in the pretrial detention center.

Gasimova's letter was published by Abzas Media.

According to Gasimova, the management methods in the pretrial detention center are in many ways similar to the management system in the country.

"Just as the rights of citizens are violated in the country, so are the rights of persons held in pretrial detention centers. These people, deprived of their liberty by law, are faced with even more illegal deprivations in prison. As the head of the Baku pretrial detention center Elnur Ismayilov himself admits, this institution is governed by unwritten laws," Gasimova notes.

She then points out the violation of specific legal rights of prisoners.

In particular, Gasimova cites paragraph 3 of Article 4 of the Law "On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Persons Held in Places of Detention", which states that the activities of penitentiary institutions are financed from the state budget.

"That is, the violation of prisoners' rights cannot be justified by a lack of funds. However, prisoners are not provided with the things they are entitled to," notes Gasimova.

At the same time, she recalls that the problems with the failure to provide prisoners with the food, clothing, and hygiene products they are entitled to, which Abzas Media employees previously wrote about from the pre-trial detention center, still persist.

Also, prisoners' rights to familiarize themselves with their rights and obligations, to submit written statements and complaints are not ensured.

"None of us were provided with the specified information, including the Internal Regulations," Gasimova further writes.

Also, prisoners' right to free assistance guaranteed by the Law "On Psychological Assistance" is not ensured.

According to her, the psychologist's office in the pre-trial detention center is not being used for its intended purpose. It is used to threaten women by the staff, to extort money from them, etc.

According to Gasimova, the rights of female prisoners to talk on the phone are limited.

"Each prisoner has the right to talk on the phone twice a week for 15 minutes," writes Gasimova.

However, according to her observations and from the prisoners themselves, they can talk on the phone for about 10 minutes.

According to the law, pretrial detention facility employees, in accordance with the ethical code of conduct, must treat prisoners politely.

"Female prisoners are discriminated against. Most employees talk to them rudely and humiliatingly. And sometimes prisoners face psychological and physical violence and the employees are not held accountable for this," Gasimova further notes.

According to her, the staff uses the right to use handcuffs and batons in certain exceptional cases, as a daily means of threatening prisoners.

"This is just part of the violated rights of prisoners in the Baku pretrial detention center. When you protest to them, they answer: "Did I ask you to commit a crime and end up here?" However, by doing so, they commit another violation of the law. The fact is that the pretrial detention center contains persons for whom the appeal proceedings have not yet been completed, that is, there is no sentence that has entered into legal force. Without this, no one can be called a "criminal". This is a violation of the presumption of innocence. However, the pretrial detention center employees, ignoring the presumption of innocence, believe that they can treat prisoners as they please. This conviction stems from their impunity," Gasimova emphasizes.

*In November 2023-January 2024, 'Abzas Media' executives and employees Ulvi Hasanli, Sevinj Vagifgyzy, Mohammed Kekalov, Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasymova, as well as investigative journalist Hafiz Babaly of Turan Agency were arrested. In May,Farid Mehralizadeh, an economist and employee of 'Radio Azadliq', was arrested in the case.

They were initially charged under Article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code (smuggling by a group of persons by prior conspiracy). However, on 16-19 August, the charges were toughened into Articles 192.3.2 (illegal entrepreneurship with large income); 193-1.3.1 and 193-1.3.2 (legalisation of criminal proceeds by an organised group); 206.4 (smuggling by an organised group); 320.1 and 320.2 (forgery of documents and use of forged documents); and 213.2.1 (group tax evasion) of the Criminal Code.

It has to be kept in mind that the above charges are punishable by up to 12 years of imprisonment.

The journalists deny all the charges as saying that they are being persecuted for investigating corruption in the highest echelons of power. Human rights activists have recognised them as political prisoners. Many international journalistic and human rights organisations have repeatedly called for their release.