Polad Aslanov, a journalist who’s in prison has been put in a solitary cell after a fight in prison. People are really worried about how he’s being treated. This is because he was put in this cell after another prisoner started a fight with him.
The fight happened on the evening of April 29. The other prisoner had been bothering Polad Aslanov for a time and finally started a fight with him. Even though Polad Aslanov was the one who was attacked he was still. Put in a solitary cell for 15 days. The person who started the fight was also put in a cell. Polad Aslanovs wife, Gulmira Aslanova is very confused and worried about this. She thinks it is not fair that her husband was punished when he was just defending himself.
Gulmira Aslanova has been trying to get some information about what’s going on but it is not easy. She tried to contact the Ombudsmans Office. They are not responding. She also met with Fikret Gafarov, who’s in charge of the prison system on May 1. He told her that Polad Aslanov is okay. He would not let her talk to him on the phone.
This is not the time Polad Aslanov has had problems in prison. He has said before that he was tortured in prison. He was arrested in 2019. Sentenced to 13 years in prison for something he did not do. He thinks he was arrested because he was writing about corruption in the government.
Many people think Polad Aslanov is in prison because of what he wrote and not because he did anything. The European Court of Human Rights has already said that the Azerbaijani government did something in his case. People are demanding that the government be held accountable, for how Polad Aslanov’s being treated in prison. They want the government to stop treating him and to make sure he is safe.