Today, on November 25, journalist Faramaz Novruzoglu (Allahverdiyev) started hunger strike in the Prison #1, where he is serving sentence. According to the journalist’s wife Tahire Allahverdiyeva, the journalist is protesting against poor prison conditions.
“Faramaz has stitched up his mouth due to unbearable conditions in which he is being held,” said Allahverdiyeva. It is unknown how long the journalist intends to carry on the strike.
Note that IRFS has appealed to the human rights Ombudswoman requesting her to visit the jailed journalist Faramaz Allahverdiyev, after he had complained of his prison conditions.
Background: Faramaz Allahverdiyev was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail under articles 220.2 (Appeals to mass disorders and violence against citizens) and 318.1 (Crossing protected frontiers of the AzerbaijanRepublic without established documents or outside of check point of frontier) of Azerbaijani Criminal Code. According to the prosecution, in 2011 ahead of March 11 Great People’s Day (a Facebook event) Faramaz Allahverdiyev, under the nickname of Elchin Ilgaroglu, called upon people to riot, promising to burn himself during the action, and had illegally crossed the Azerbaijani-Turkish border and lived there from November 2010 until October2011. Besides the prison sentence, Allahverdiyev is required to pay 1350 AZN fine imposed on him by November 5, 2010 decision of the Narimanov District Court and 70 AZN in compensation for the expenses of forensic medical exam carried out during the last trial.