The founder of the site went on a hunger strike

A manager  of the demokratik.az  site Osman Narimanoglu (Rzayev) has declared an indefinite hunger strike in the pre-trial detention center. He is protesting against the illegal arrest and the biased consideration of the appeal against the verdict. According to his wife, Arzu Rzayeva, Osman went on hunger strike on May 12 in the Ganja pre-trial detention center-2.  Rzayeva said that her husband is a victim of slander by officials and has been unreasonably detained for 23 months, and the Ganja Court of Appeal has not conducted an objective investigation and has been delaying the investigation for a month now.

 "My husband lost faith in the justice of the court and went on a hunger strike out of desperation," she said.

The next hearing of the Court of Appeal in this case is scheduled for May 16. The Department of Public Relations of the Penitentiary Service could not be reached for comment.

*Osman Narimanoglu was arrested on July 5, 2022 on charges of extortion. After his arrest, he stated that the accusations were false and he was slandered by officials of the Melioration Department, as well as doctors of the Goranboy and Goygol regions, about whose corruption the site published materials. On January 25, the court sentenced him to 6.5 years in prison. Human rights activists recognized Osman Narimanoglu as a political prisoner.