Polad Aslanov's wife reports that pressure on him stopped

On the ninth day of the hunger strike of Polad Aslanov, a journalist, the Supreme Court (SC) has set the date for the consideration of his complaint; this may be due to the attention of media and human rights defenders to his hunger strike. After Aslanov was visited by employees of the Ombudsperson's Office and the Red Cross, the pressure on him was stopped, his wife said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 6, Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Xeberman.com and Press-az.com, went on a hunger strike, demanding to review his case. On January 12, his wife reported that Aslanov was exposed to moral pressure.

According to Gyulmira Aslanova, Polad's wife, the colony administration asked her to persuade her husband to stop the hunger strike. Now, he only drinks water.

The charges against Polad Aslanov were based on his publications, Gyulmira, who also worked for him at the editorial office, asserts.

"Polad was accused of spying for Iran and receiving orders to publish materials that 'discredit special services' of Azerbaijan. In fact, Polad criticized the extortion of money by special services from the travel agencies that brought pilgrims to Iran ... The case was fabricated with the aim to punish my husband for exposing corruption," Gyulmira Aslanova is sure.

As a rule, Azerbaijani authorities ignore the appeals of international human rights organization, treating their position as biased, said Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners. Nevertheless, according to his version, such statements made by authoritative organizations are important – they are listened to by the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe), the Council of Europe, and the European Union.

Tezekhan Miralamli, an activist of the NGO "Defence Line", also treats the reaction of local and international NGOs as important.