The prison administration has achieved a tougher punishment regime for activist Mustafayev
A Baku court partially granted the request of the correctional facility's management and ordered Elvin Mustafayev to be sent to a closed prison for six months. The activist stated in court that he was framed in order to achieve a tougher punishment regime.
As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, in June, the management of Colony No. 6 submitted a motion to the court to toughen the punishment regime of Elvin Mustafayev, demanding that he be transferred to the closed Gobustan prison until August 2026. The activist's relatives considered this petition unfounded.
Elvin Mustafayev, an activist of the alternative trade union confederation "Workers' Platform", was detained in Azerbaijan on August 4, 2023 and charged with drug trafficking. The activist denied the charges, claiming that the drugs were planted on him by security forces. The court sentenced Mustafayev to three years in prison, and the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan upheld the sentence. Human rights activists recognized Mustafayev as a political prisoner along with other arrested members of the same organization, Afiyaddin Mamedov and Aykhan Israfilov.
On July 10, the Nizami District Court of Baku completed its consideration of the motion of the management of the correctional institution (PI-6) to transfer Mustafayev to prison until the end of his sentence - until August 2026, the father of the convicted person Ali Mustafayev told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
The demand of the colony management was motivated by Mustafayev's failure to comply with the "internal regulations", "opposition activities in the correctional institution", "unfounded complaints", causing injuries to himself and employees, in connection with which the convicted person was repeatedly reprimanded.
On May 6, Mustafayev was placed in solitary confinement for that he had declared a hunger strike in solidarity with the opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, who was on hunger strike at the time. From that day on, Mustafayev was banned from making phone calls and seeing his family. At the same time, after he declared a hunger strike, he was transferred to Colony No. 6. After Yagublu ended his hunger strike, Mustafayev also stopped the action.
Elvin told how he was beaten in the chief's office
"However, as Elvin himself said in court, this is a lie invented to toughen his punishment. Elvin reported that after he was transferred to Colony No. 6 because of the hunger strike he declared in solidarity with convicted politician Tofig Yagublu, he was subjected to pressure in this institution. Elvin told how he was beaten in the chief's office. "The employees [...] beat him so much that blood was flowing from his ear for three days. And recently his ear has been festering, and no medical care has been provided to him," said Ali Mustafayev, noting that Elvin complained about torture to the Penitentiary Service and the prosecutor's office, but in vain.
The court partially satisfied the colony's management's motion and decided to send Elvin Mustafayev to a closed prison for six months, said lawyer Zibeida Sadygova.
In a closed prison, prisoners are isolated as much as possible
"Unfortunately, the court did not conduct an objective investigation. We presented to the court a disc with a video interview of former prisoner of Penal Colony No. 6, journalist Avaz Zeynalli, after his release, in which he spoke about the torture of Elvin in this institution and the bias of the colony's leadership towards the activist. However, the court did not take this important evidence into account. The prosecutor proposed to partially satisfy the motion and transfer Mustafayev to prison for 6 months, and the court made such a decision. In a closed prison, prisoners are maximally isolated, they are kept in 1-2-bed cells, they are given only one hour of walks per day, they are limited in telephone conversations and visits with relatives," Sadygova told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
She noted that an appeal will be filed against the court's decision, and until the appeal is considered, Mustafayev must remain in Penal Colony No. 6.
An employee of the Nizami Court confirmed the information about the decision regarding Mustafayev to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Representatives of the Penitentiary Service were not available for comment.
A "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was unable to contact journalist Zeynalli, who after an early release from prison is in Turkey for treatment for a serious oncological disease.
Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/412963