Saleh Rustamov was persuaded to stop dry hunger strike, but his health remains serious - lawyer

Baku/06.12.21/Turan: Today, the lawyer Bahruz Bayramov and the brothers of the political prisoner Saleh Rustamov managed to convince him not to go on a dry hunger strike, said  the lawyer Bahruz Bayramov.

“A dry hunger strike can cause a coma in a few hours, so his family convinced him not to go on a dry hunger strike, conveying to him the urgent calls of representatives of the public, politicians, residents of Gadabay, veterans who fought with him in the first Karabakh war,” Bayramov said. According to him, on the 31st day of the hunger strike, Rustamov's health is extremely serious, he cannot sleep from pain.

Today, lawyers Bayramov and Agil Laidj submitted an appeal to the Nizami District Court to release Rustamov from the remainder of his prison sentence for health reasons.

The defense refers to Article 78.2 of the Criminal Code, which provides for the release from punishment of a convicted person due to a serious illness by a court decision, Agil Laidj told Turan.

Rustamov suffers from kidney failure, in addition, a long hunger strike negatively affected his health, some of which have become irreversible.

According to the lawyer, the court accepted the application for proceedings and 10 days are given for consideration in accordance with the law. However, the court may consider the application urgently.

In addition, on the basis of a request from the defense, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) launched the mechanism Rule 39 of the Court Rules on the adoption of temporary interim measures against Rustamov.

Lawyers appealing to Strasbourg raised the issue of the threat of coma as a result of a prolonged hunger strike and the need to transfer Rustamov from a prison hospital to a modern civilian clinic to ensure effective medical care.

According to Laidj, the ECHR gave the government a deadline until December 10 to answer the questions raised by the court about Rustamov's health.

* Supporter of the Popular Front Party, veteran of the first Karabakh war, Saleh Rustamov, was arrested in May 2018 and sentenced to 7 years 3 months in prison on a falsified case of “illegal financing of the Popular Front Party”.

Human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner. On November 6, he began an indefinite hunger strike demanding his release.

Saleh Rustamov is a veteran of the Karabakh war. In 1992, being the head of the Executive Power of the Gadabay region, he was one of the leaders of the Bashkand operation to ensure the security of the border villages of the region. —06B06-