Relatives worry about the fate of Z. Salayev, who is on hunger strike in jail

Baku/19.09.20/Turan: Member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Zamin Salayev is subjected to harassment and physical pressure in jail N16, his son Ogtay Salayev said.

According to him, since September 15, Z. Salayev has been on a hunger strike both as a sign of solidarity with Tofig Yagublu and against the violation of his own rights.

According to the law, a convict must serve his sentence close to the place of his home, so that family members can conveniently visit him, said Salayev. “We live in the Salyan region (130 km. South-west of Baku) and on the territory of our region there is a jail N5 in the Khalaj settlement. But, for some reason, my father was transferred from pre-trial detention center-3 in Shuvelan to jail N16 located in another Baku settlement of Ramana,” O. Salayev said.

He noted that after Z. Salayev was transferred to the jail, they began to harass him, bully him, and beat him for no reason. “So, the guard beat him on the slightest reason, for example, being late,” O.Salayev, noted.

After the hunger strike, the pressure on the opposition leader intensified.

O. Salayev noted that he had informed the father of the ombudsman's office and the Baku office of the International Committee of the Red Cross about the hunger strike.

O. Salayev said that since September 17, he has no connection with his father and information about him and family members are worried about the fate of the oppositionist.

“When the last time we spoke with my father on the phone, when he started talking about his hunger strike and the intensification of pressure on him in this connection, the connection was cut off,” O. Salayev said.

He believes that Z. Salayev continues the hunger strike after the release of Tofig Yagublu, since another reason for his action was a protest against the violation of his own rights.

The attempts to get comments from the Penitentiary Service were futile.

Salayev was sentenced on April 20 by the Salyan District Court to 2 years 3 months in prison on charges of "libel" and "insult" based on a complaint from an officer of the local police department.

The reason for the lawsuit was a video, distributed by Salayev on the Internet, in which he, in a conversation with a police officer, accused him of persuading a 21-year-old local resident to cohabit. -21С06-