Elena Sorokina Washington DC—Crude Accountability is deeply concerned about the health and wellbeing of Azerbaijani blogger and anti-corruption activist, Mehman Huseynov, and publicly calls for his immediate and unconditional release. Huseynov is on his 15th day of a hunger strike in
Huseynov began his hunger strike on 26 December 2018 in response to new charges of injuring a prison guard—an accusation he denies. Mehman was to be released from prison in March 2019 after spending 2 years in prison on politically motivated charges of libel against the police, brought
against him to silence his anti-corruption blogging activities.
Prior to imprisonment, Mehman Huseynov was a well-respected internet blogger, disseminating information about corruption within the ruling Aliyev family to the Azerbaijani people. He had, and continues to have, over 300,000 followers on various social media platforms, and is considered a threat to the status quo by President Aliyev’s regime.
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, enshrined in the constitution of Azerbaijan and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Earlier this week, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, called upon the Azerbaijani authorities to drop the new charges against Mehman Huseynov.
Crude Accountability calls upon the US government, especially the US Helsinki Commission, to condemn these new and previous charges and call for his immediate and unconditional release.
Contact:
Sonia Zilberman
Director, South Caspian Energy
Crude Accountability
sonia@nullcrudeaccountability.org
crudeaccountability.org
+1.202.320.6225