Police refused to initiiate case on beating of Polad Aslanov in custody

Baku/15.08.22/Turan: The police refused to initiate a criminal case on a complaint of beating and psychological pressure in colony No. 1 against journalist Polad Aslanov. This was reported to Turan by his wife Gulmira Aslanova as referred to the official response of the Nizami district police department.

It should be recalled that Polad Aslanov reported that on April 1 this year he was beaten in the colony by a cellmate. In this connection, his wife held a number of protest actions. On April 9, she was received by the Nizami district prosecutor's office that promised to conduct an investigation.

"My complaint from the Nizami prosecutor's office was transferred to the district police. They conducted an "investigation" and found no "fact of the crime", refusing to initiate a criminal case," Aslanova noted.

The investigator referred to the testimony of an officer of the penitentiary service and four prisoners who denied the fact of the attack on Polad.

"If the cellmate did not beat my husband, then why was he put in the punishment cell for 3 days?", - Aslanova asked.

Besides, the investigation referred to the conclusion of the forensic medical examination that there were no traces of violence on Polad's body. However, there was no examination, his wife claims.

She noted that the decision of the Nizami police will be appealed. At the same time, Aslanova stressed that provocations against her husband have recently stopped.

*Founder and head of the website xeberman.com Polad Aslanov was arrested in June 2019 on charges of treason and sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment. Human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner. On February 24, the Supreme Court reduced his term of imprisonment to 13 years.—06B-