The wife of the convicted editor Polad Aslanov, Gulmira Aslanova, held a single protest rally in front of the building of the State Security Service (SSS) of Azerbaijan on January 11.
She told reporters that she was holding a rally in support of her husband, who had started a hunger strike, demanding a review of his case.
“Until now, I was against his hunger strike, because it harms health. But now I am in solidarity with h im and will fight to the end for his rights.
My husband said: “I’d rather die than live with the stigma of ‘traitor.’ Every day I will come here or to the General Prosecutor’s Office and hold a protest action,” said G. Aslanova. Later she was invited to the State Security Service building. Leaving the building, she said that she was received by the deputy head of the investigation department.
“At first he did not agree with my statement about the violation of Polad’s rights, but then he agreed to receive me and my lawyer Elchin Sadigov. Tomorrow we will go to him together,” said G. Aslanova. In her opinion, the case can be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Today G. Aslanova handed over cigarettes and bottled water for her husband to colony number 1.
“At first they didn’t want to take the transmission from me, but then they did. Today I have no information about Polad’s hunger strike, but if he had stopped it, I would have been informed right away,” G.Aslanova said.
According to her, today she also received a call from the Baku office of the Red Cross and said that they learned about the hunger strike from the media and asked about Polad’s condition.
* The editor of the website xeberman.com Polad Aslanov was sentenced on November 16, 2019 to 16 years in prison on charges of treason in favor of Iran. Reporters Without Borders and other human rights organizations called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release Polad Aslanov.