Civil Society Protection Committee: Stop Pressure on Taleh Khasmamedov

The Committee to Protect Civil Society condemns the continued persecution of the imprisoned human rights defender Taleh Khasmamedov.

The Committee calls upon the leadership of the Prison Service to cancel the transfer of Khasmamedov into solitary confinement in Prison №13 and render him urgent medical aid.

Recall the man was placed in solitary confinement since on February 11 his wife appealed to the leadership of the Penitentiary Service for treatment of her husband.

The head of the organization Laws and Regulations Taleh Khasmamedov was sentenced on July 22, 2015 to three years in prison on charges of beating a man. Khasmamedov denies any wrongdoing and in protest he went on hunger strike and cut his wrists. In December 2015 he was included in the list of political prisoners prepared by the representatives of civil society in Azerbaijan.

Note that on April 20, 2012 the Goychay District Court sentenced him to four years' imprisonment for "hooliganism committed with application of a weapon or subjects used as a weapon" and "violent resistance to a government representative" of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. By the order of the President of Azerbaijan on December 26, 2012 Khasmamedov was pardoned.

The Public Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners notes that Khasmamedov is persecuted for exposing the crimes and abuses by local officials. -0-