Arrested blogger complains about lack of medical care in pre-trial detention centre

Health condition of Osman Narimanoglu (Rzayev), founder of demokratik.az website, who is detained in Ganja pre-trial detention centre, has deteriorated, his wife Arzu Rzayeva said.

She noted that Narimanoglu suffers from rheumatic disease, and recently he has increased pain in his joints and does not sleep at night.  During the 20 months of detention in the pre-trial detention centre, he has never had a medical examination. This was not done even when he was on a 15-day hunger strike, his wife claims.

"Osman repeatedly appealed to the leadership of the pre-trial detention centre to be given medical assistance. However, they don't even give him painkillers," Rzayeva said.

Rzayeva appealed to the Ministry of Justice, the Penitentiary Service and the Main Medical Department under the Ministry of Justice with a request to transfer Narimanoglu to a hospital in Baku.

To remind, Osman Narimanoglu was arrested on 5 July 2022 on charges of extortion. After his arrest, he claimed that the charges were false and that he had been slandered by officials of the Land Reclamation Department, as well as doctors of Geranboy and Goygol regions, whose corruption activities the website had published materials about.

On 25 January, the court sentenced him to 6.5 years of imprisonment. Human rights activists recognised Osman Narimanoglu as a political prisoner.--