The convicted founder of the Azel.tv website, Afgan Sadigov, has been on a hunger strike in prison for 27 days, his wife Sevinj Sadigova said.
On November 3, the Baku Serious Crimes Court found him guilty of extortion and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
“The verdict of the court is unfair. There was no threat or blackmail. Therefore, I am going on a hunger strike,” Sadigov said in court and filed an appeal.
He was detained on May 13. According to the investigation, Sadigov was detained together with the editor of xeberfakt.az Sakit Muradov while receiving a bribe in the amount of 10 thousand manats. Muradov was not arrested then.
Before his arrest, Afgan Sadygov wrote an article “A hidden crime in Takhtakerpu”, where it was alleged about the sexual violence against two women (one of whom is a minor) in the village of Takhtakerpu. Sadigov argued that these facts of violence were not being investigated. He also shared this material on YouTube.
Sadigov also wrote critical articles about a group of people he is allegedly involved in drug trafficking and officials of the executive power of the city of Sumgayit.
A number of local and international human rights organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have issued statements calling on the Azerbaijani government to release immediately Sadigov.
His appeal is still pending.
Turan
