Threat to Tofig Yagublu’s Life in Shuvalan Pre-trial Detention Center

Baku / 17.07.20 / Turan: The life of the arrested opposition leader Tofig Yagublu was seriously threatened, as his daughter Nigar Hazi said.

A patient with tuberculosis and another prisoner with hepatitis C were placed into the cell with the asthmatic Yagublu. “Father believes that this was done deliberately so that he becomes infected and dies,” said Yagublu.

However, the public relations department of the Prison Service refutes the detention of Yagublu along with sick prisoners.

“Arrested persons, upon admission to the pre-trial detention center, immediately undergo medical examinations. If tuberculosis is suspected, then the prisoner is transferred to a specialized institution for tuberculosis patients. Therefore, keeping together with tuberculosis patients is impossible,” said the representative of the Prison Service.

Yagublu is held in the Shuvelan pre-trial detention center.

On March 22, a car was driven into a parked car in which Tofig Yagublu was sitting by a citizen Elkhan Jabrailov. After that, Jabrailov entered into a fight with Yagublu, accusing him of the accident.

Police in the Nizami district opened a criminal case under article 221.3 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism using objects as weapons).

Yagublu himself and his colleagues called the incident a provocation in order to condemn the opposition for his criticism of the government on social networks. International human rights organizations condemned the arrest of Yagublu.

Yagublu was previously sentenced to three years in 2013 on charges of inciting riots in Ismayilli.

He was also arrested on October 19, 2019 for participating in an unauthorized protest by the National Council and was tortured by the police.  -03D06-