Ulvi Hasanli reports on savage torture in pre-trial detention center N1

"Prisoners are crucified, beaten and hung on bars in the corridors," writes the director of the “Abzas Media” publication Ulvi Hasanli on what he saw in the Kurdakhany pre-trial detention center for 6 months.

He reports that he repeatedly appealed to the leadership of the Penitentiary Service, the leadership of the pre-trial detention center, the Ombudswoman, but no action was taken.

"I was arrested on November 20, 2023. Since November 22, we have been in custody in the Baku pre-trial detention center, popularly known as the "Kurdakhan prison".

At first, I only heard the sounds of torture: slaps, kicks, fists, swearing, insults. Then I saw with my own eyes cases of inhuman treatment and torture: beatings (severe injuries to the face and body), hanging a prisoner in handcuffs on partitions with iron bars), forcing a prisoner to lie on a concrete floor for days, handcuffing one hand to the headboard and the other to his leg for 12 hours at night, hanging a prisoner upside down, beating with iron rods and a baton..."

Prisoners are usually tortured between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.  Protesters demanding their rights are brought in the evening or in the morning and put in a "punishment cell". At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the guards come and start beating and insulting.

To justify the cases of violence, the head of the Baku pre-trial detention center No. 1, Elnur Ismailov, and his deputies declare that those who are beaten are problematic prisoners. Like, if you don't beat them, the jail will become unmanageable.

"Every time I protest, the prison administration insists that torture, beatings and insults are legal and justified measures. The Ombudswoman's hotline 916 and the inscription "No to torture" in Azerbaijani and English are posted in all corridors.  Prisoners are being tortured under these posters. The torture continues every week, sometimes every day. Sometimes one person is beaten, sometimes 10-15 people at the same time."

The main rapists are Deputy chief Lieutenant Colonel Jeyhun Hajiyev and Captain Javid Gulaliyev. One day, Deputy chief Jeyhun Hajiyev knocked down a prisoner and kicked him,  then other guards joined in.

One of the famous executioners in prison is Warrant Officer Parviz Guliyev. This is the "foreman" of the 4th corps. He has a special form of torture. He hangs prisoners upside down on iron bars, handcuffs their legs and hands, and then beats them with a baton.

All these lawlessness and arbitrariness must be seriously investigated, those responsible must be punished, and systematic torture must be prevented, Hasanli writes.

"In the first six months of 2024, I registered 58 cases of torture and inhuman treatment. These are the cases that I was able to count and witness. Now imagine the scale of torture and ill-treatment in pre-trial detention centers and prisons," he writes.

In turn, the press service of the Penitentiary Service told the Turan agency that the statements in this appeal do not correspond to reality. None of the prisoners or their lawyers have filed such complaints.

*Ulvi Hasanli and several other employees of “Abzas Media” were arrested on falsified charges of smuggling foreign currency in November 2023. The investigation into their case is ongoing.