Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Environment

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan's Bloody January 2022
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Arts and Culture
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Podcast
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

EurasiaChat
Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.

Azerbaijan: Prominent Political Prisoner Asserts His Life Is in Danger

Oct 22, 2015

Ilgar Mammadov, a prominent political prisoner in Azerbaijan, says he was attacked recently by three prison officials, and expressed fear for his life.
 
Mammadov was arrested in early 2013 and received a seven-year sentence following conviction on a charge of inciting violence. At the time of his arrest, he was a leader of the Republican Alternative (REAL), a group opposing the policies of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration. Rights activists assert the criminal case against Mammadov was politically motivated. Shortly after his conviction in 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that his arrest violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The Azerbaijani government has ignored at least two appeals by the Council of Europe calling for Mammadov’s release.
 
In a handwritten note dated October 20 and written from behind bars, Mammadov described being assaulted by three top prison officials in the facility where he is serving his sentence. The three officials “beat me up severely,” Mammadov wrote, adding that the episode occurred on October 16. He did not speculate about possible causes for the incident.
 
Mammadov’s letter urges rights activists and foreign diplomats to keep raising his case with Azerbaijani leaders. “The beating is in line with the death threats I had received earlier from top management of the Penitentiary Service,” he wrote. “The Council of Europe and other international bodies, as well as [the] local community, are aware of such threats.”
 
Rights watchdogs have documented a dramatic decline in individual liberties in Azerbaijani in recent years, and assert that authorities in Baku are holding roughly 80 individuals for political reasons. Azerbaijani authorities deny holding any political prisoners. The country is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on November 1.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Popular

Pashinyan says Armenians should stay in Karabakh
Fin DePencier
Azerbaijan jails critics of Karabakh offensive
Kazakhstan: Resurgent saigas seen threatening farmer livelihoods
Almaz Kumenov

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2023