Members of the monitoring group of human rights organizations of Azerbaijan (MGHRO) Novella Jafaroglu, Said Gojamanli and Saadat Bananyarli met with Interior Minister Vilayat Eyvazov on 3 December.
“During the meeting we discussed a number of human rights issues we are concerned about. Of course, we focused on Tofig Yagublu’s health conditions after his detention at the December 1 rally,” Gojamanly said.
As for Yagublu, the Interior Minister ruled out violence against him by police officers; at the same time he noted that the complaint of the opposition leader is under investigation by the prosecutor’s office and we should wait for the results, Gojamanly said.
She said that the Minister voiced his willingness to dialogue with the monitoring team on issues of concern among human rights defenders.
“This is very important, as the head of the Interior Ministry is also a member of the clemency commission. As you know, the institution of pardon is one of the ways of releasing political prisoners,” Gojamanly said.
In general, touching upon the issue of political prisoners Gojamanly noted that today the fate of Saleh Rustamov is of greatest concern to the MGHRO.
“He has been on hunger strike for 28 days already. Our group visited him at the Penitentiary Service Hospital on November 30. His condition is alarming. We believe that given his merits in the first Karabakh war, the Bashkend operation, as well as having an invalid son, Saleh Rustamov can and should be set free,” Gojamanly said.
According to her, one way to quickly resolve the issue is to reclassify the charges against him into less serious articles and release him from imprisonment, so the Plenum of the Supreme Court might take such a decision.
“After our visit to Saleh Rustamov and contacts with representatives of the executive, legislative and judicial authorities, there were signs of hope for a positive solution to the release of this man. Regretfully, attempts to seek Rustamov’s release in the squares, by ultimatums in the media and social networks, only undermine efforts in this direction,” Gojamanli said.
Nevertheless, Gojamanly stressed that human rights activists would continue their efforts to secure Rustamov’s release.
“This intelligent, noble man should not be a victim of someone’s political games,” Gojamanly said.
* Supporter of the Party of People’s Front of Azerbaijan (PPFA) and veteran of the first Karabakh war Saleh Rustamov was arrested in May 2018 and sentenced to 7 years 3 months of imprisonment in a trumped-up case of “illegal financing of the PPFA”.
He was declared a political prisoner by human rights activists. On November 6, he started an indefinite hunger strike demanding his release.
Source: Turan News Agency