Founder of a website announced a hunger strike in the Ganja pre-trial detention center

Baku/26.07.23/Turan:Osman Narimanoglu (Rzayev), the editor of the website "Demokratik.az " , who is kept  in the Ganja pre-trial detention center, has been on a hunger strike since July 23,  his wife  Arzu Rzayeva said after meeting with him on July 26. According to her, the journalist is on a hunger strike in protest against unjustified criminal prosecution. Narimanoglu wrote an official statement to the leadership of the pre-trial detention center about declaring a hunger strike, she noted.

Rzayeva pointed out the unjustified delay in the judicial investigation of her husband's case.

The Penitentiary Service, however, denied the information about the journalist's hunger strike.

"The Penitentiary Service has not received any official appeal from Osman Rzayev about the hunger strike," the department said.

The journalist, who has been in custody since July 5, 2022, previously stated that he was the victim of a slanderous campaign launched against him by officials of the Geygel  region because of his professional activities.

He was charged under the  Article 182.2.2 (extortion by threats) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of complaints from the director of the Geygel Hospital, Vasif Aliyev, the former head of the regional irrigation Systems Department, Ilgar Magerramov, and two other doctors. ---06B---