PFPA activist Mehman Aliyev went on hunger strike in jail

Mehman Aliyev, a member of the opposition Popular Front Party, who was arrested on charges of drug trafficking, went on a hunger strike in jail. He is protesting against torture during detention and unjustified criminal prosecution. On June 4, lawyer Fahraddin Mehdiyev visited Aliyev in Baku pre-trial detention center-1. According to him, Aliyev began a hunger strike on June 1. He announced this on June 4 by phone to his family.

According to the activist's father, Aydin Aliyev, his son told about the beating in the police after his arrest. The man also said that relatives are not allowed to meet with Mehman. The lawyer called the ban "illegal and unjustified" and filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office regarding the torture of his client.

In turn, the Penitentiary Service stated that Aliyev had not officially informed the leadership of the pre-trial detention center about the hunger strike, and a meeting with relatives was prohibited by the investigator. The activist's father denied any involvement of his son in drugs. According to him, the real reason for the arrest is the release by him of a video of an attempt to detain his relative Ali Isayev in Shirvan on May 22. This video captures how  policemen in civilian clothes tried to  get Isayev into  a car , and Isayev shouted that they want to slander him and cut his hands. "My son accidentally witnessed this incident and began filming and then distributed the video. For this, he was accused of distributing drugs," the father of the arrested man said.

Mehman Aliyev was charged under Article 234.4.3 (large-scale drug trafficking) of the Criminal Code, which provides for imprisonment from 5 to 12 years.

*On May 24, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the detention of a person who had previously injured himself while trying to detain him in the city of Shirvan.  Another person was detained with him. These are Isayev Ali, born in 1987, and Aliyev Mehman, born in 1983.

According to the Interior Ministry, heroin in large quantities was found and seized from them.