Azerbaijani rights defenders urge president to help in releasing of Rustamov

Salekh Rustamov, an activist, who has been on hunger strike for eight days, is risking his life, but will not back down if his demands for release are not met, human rights defenders assert. They called on the head of Azerbaijan to help in releasing the activist.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 27, 2021, the court sentenced Salekh Rustamov, a Russian citizen, to seven years and three months in prison. A defence's attempt to appeal against the verdict has failed. On November 6, he went on a hunger strike.

The NGO "Defence Line" has appealed to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, with a request to help in releasing Rustamov. The authors of the appeal believe that Rustamov was unjustly convicted, and while his stay in colony "was subjected to pressure based on political discrimination."

The "Defence Line" is convinced that Salekh Rustamov is not a culprit of any socially dangerous act or other action prohibited by the law. We hereby ask you to pay attention to Salekh Rustamov's ongoing hunger strike and instruct those responsible to consider his legitimate demands; otherwise, he intends to start a fatal hunger strike, which can lead to tragic consequences," says the appeal to the president, which was translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 13, 2021 at 03:30 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.