Court rejects complaint of Ulvi Hasanly about inhuman treatment in pre-trial detention centre

Baku's Khatai district court on 24 October rejected a complaint filed by director of online publication ‘Abzas Media’ Ulvi Hasanly against Baku SIZO-1 and the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan.

The complaint was filed due to violation of the journalist's rights, inhuman treatment and poor detention conditions, said the journalist's lawyer Zibeida Sadigova.

‘In the complaint we noted that in Baku SIZO-1 the water supply to the cells is very intermittent, only one or two hours during the day.  Hasanly is kept in a 4 square metre cell. Before and after the meeting with his lawyers, he is subjected to a personal search and questioning, and Hasanly's telephone conversations are tapped,’ the lawyer said.

After Hasanly made public the facts of torture he witnessed in the pre-trial detention centre, threats to his safety arose.

‘On 11 September, Ulvi was severely hit by a SIZO employee named Naib. Ulvi was taken to court and returned to the SIZO in inhuman conditions. On the other hand, Hasanly was unreasonably banned from ‘live meetings’ with his two-year-old child. We pointed out all these issues in the complaint and asked the court to take measures to ensure Hasanly's rights and safety,’ the lawyer continued.

Representatives of the Baku SIZO-1 and the Penitentiary Service did not appear in court. Nevertheless, the court did not satisfy the complaint, Sadigova said.  The defense will appeal the decision, she said.

* In July Hasanly reported about torture of prisoners in the pre-trial detention centre with the participation of the leadership of this department (beatings, hanging prisoners handcuffed on the bars, laying them on the concrete floor, chaining them to the bed, hanging them upside down, beating them with iron bars and batons, etc.).

Elnur Ismailov, head of Baku SIZO No. 1, and his deputies claim that those who are beaten are problem prisoners. They say that if they are not beaten, the SIZO will become unmanageable.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeyhun Hajiyev, deputy chief, Captain Javid Gulaliyev and Warrant Officer Perviz Guliyev are the main abusers.  Hasanly recorded 58 cases of tortures in six months.

Recall that Ulvi Hasanly and several other employees of ’Abzas Media’ were arrested on falsified charges of foreign currency smuggling in November 2023. The investigation into their case is ongoing.--