Mehman Huseynov Released from Azerbaijan

Baku / 12.04.19 / Turan: Last night, the blogger Mehman Huseynov was released from Azerbaijan after a 9-year ban and was able to fly to Europe. He wrote on his Facebook page about this.

"After 9 years of being held hostage, I finally left. Why the Prosecutor General's Office imposed the ban after I left the prison, no one knows," the blogger wrote.

Touching on his trip, he said he would meet with representatives of international organizations and speak at a number of events.

According to Mehman, he intends to raise the issue of political prisoners and violation of the rights and freedoms of citizens.

"I want to reveal one secret: the real reason for my trip is to expose the West, to show that those people are dying from hunger, and unemployment and poverty prevail there," the blogger ironically hints at the talentless AzTV broadcasts.

* In 2017, Mehman Huseynov was sentenced to 2 years on false charges of defamation of the police. Two months before the end of the term, he was accused of beating a prison employee. In protest, the blogger went on a dry hunger strike.

Dozens of activists and public figures of Azerbaijan, some of whom declared a hunger strike of solidarity, supported him.

Human rights organizations Reporters Without Borders and PEN America, as well as US Senator Marco Rubio, called the charges against the blogger baseless and demanded the release of Huseynov.

A multi-thousand rally was held in Baku demanding the release of Mehman and other political prisoners.

Under pressure from the international community and against the background of growing protests in the country, the authorities canceled the new criminal case and released the blogger on time.

He received a new passport, but this week he was not released from the country at the Baku airport, and told that the Prosecutor General"s Office had imposed a travel ban. -02B-