19 July 2021, 19:52
Polad Aslanov stops his hunger strike in penal colony
Today, Azerbaijani journalist Polad Aslanov has reported that on July 18, he stopped his hunger strike in connection with the termination of pressure on him in the penal colony.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on July 12, Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Internet editions “Xeberman.com” and “Press-az.com”, went on a hunger strike in protest against the pressure on him and extortions of money in the penal colony.
On November 16, 2020, the court sentenced Polad Aslanov to 16 years of imprisonment in a case on high treason.
Today, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent has been informed by Gulmira Aslanova, a spouse of the convicted journalist, that her husband stopped his hunger strike on July 18. “Today, Polad has called me and said that the pressure on him has been suspended,” the woman said.
Having declared a hunger strike, Polad Aslanov called on the diplomatic missions to visit him. On July 13, his wife sent the journalist’s complaint to the e-mail addresses of more than 20 embassies in Baku.
According to Gulmira Aslanova, with the exception of employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), no one visited her husband during his hunger strike. “I appealed to the embassies of the United States and a number of EU countries and the EU representative office, but no one responded. The Polad’s case should receive increased attention. The fact that the pressure on Polad has now been stopped does not mean that it will not resume in the future,” Gulmira Aslanova emphasized.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 19, 2021 at 12:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
