Polad Aslanov complained to Ombudsman representatives

On August 9, representatives of the Ombudsman office of Azerbaijan, as part of a visit to correctional institution No. 1, along with other convicts, also met with the imprisoned head of the site xeberman.com Polad Aslanov, the wife of journalist Gulmir Aslanova told Turan.

According to her, Polad Aslanov presented three complaints to the staff of the Ombudsman's office. Two of them concerned the inhuman treatment of him during his detention in 2019 by employees of the State Security Service (SSS) and after his admission to the pre-trial detention center.

In both cases, the Prosecutor's Office began investigations on the journalist's complaint, but the proceedings were then stopped, and no decision was issued to close the cases to either the lawyer or P.Aslanov.

The journalist called on the representatives of the Ombudsman to assist in obtaining the decisions of the Prosecutor's Office to appeal them to local courts and further to the European Court of Human Rights.

Note that Polad Aslanov's third appeal was related to the financial situation of his family.

"Polad told the representatives of the Ombudsman that being innocent he has been languishing in prison for the sixth year. The illegality of his arrest was also confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights. This notwithstanding, he is not released, and the state does not provide social assistance to the family. As his wife I am being denied a job because my husband is in prison. Polad demanded to provide his family with social assistance, recalling the responsibility of the state for its citizens," G.Aslanova noted.

According to her, the journalist outlined his complaints in a written statement addressed to Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva and was promised consideration of these appeals.

*Aslanov was arrested on June 12, 2019, charged under Article 274 of the Criminal Code (treason), in particular, with espionage in favor of Iran and sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment. Aslanov denies all charges, saying that he is being persecuted for exposing corruption among intelligence officers. Human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner. International organizations condemned Aslanov's arrest and called for his release. Subsequently, the Supreme Court reduced Aslanov's prison sentence to 13 years.