[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A key U.S. senator on Monday, once again, urged Azerbaijan to free leading government critics Gubad Ibadoghlu and Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, TURAN’s Washington correspondent reports.
Senator Dick Durbin, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said that the U.S. ‘cannot forget’ political prisoners wrongfully detained by President Aliyev’s government.
Gubad Ibadoghlu and Bakhtiyar Hajiyev “must be immediately released,” Durbin added.
Earlier, Durbin called on the Azerbaijani government to release political prisoners and “instead focus on joining the community of democracies.”
Hajiyev was arrested last December for alleged “hooliganism” and “disrespect for court”, while Ibadoghlu was detained last month on a charge of “counterfeiting”, claims that both of them and their supporters strongly dispute.
Both have recently been subject to new accusations while in jail.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]