Mothers and sons hunger strike in Azerbaijan

Imprisoned Azerbaijani youth activists and their mothers on April 24 entered the fifth day of a hunger strike intended to protest the activists' detention in prison, pending trial, for over a year. 

“Our hunger strike is first of all an act of solidarity with our children, who are facing prison sentences,” Kavkazsky Uzel news site quoted Sakina Qurbanova, whose son, Zaur Qurbanli and seven fellow young government critics, have been awaiting trial since last year. “This is a desperate move. Perhaps at least now the authorities hear our voice and they will put a stop to this injustice,” Qurbanova went on saying.

The activists, most of them members of the NIDA (exclamation mark) civil rights movement, were arrested in 2013 on hooliganism, drug abuse and procession of firearms charges. Human-rights groups have dismissed the accusations, which are often levied against young dissenters in Azerbaijan. The prosecutors also accused the group of plotting an armed uprising -- another standard claim  -- but the activists' supporters and lawyers maintain that the youths only planned a peaceful rally.

Amnesty International, a frequent critic of Azerbaijan, accused the Azerbaijani authorities of torturing the prisoners, inventing charges against them, and demanded the group's immediate release. On April 22, police dispersed a rally in support of the arrested activists.  

Despite mounting concerns over their health, both the activists and their mothers pledged to continue their strike until the authorities drop their charges.

The government has not responded publicly.

Others, however, are likely to do so. Azerbaijan takes over the chairmanship of the commission of ministers of the Council of Europe, the continent's chief human-rights body, this May.

In an April 24 interview with RFE/RL, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks slammed the country's civil-rights record, saying that "nothing had been done by Baku to improve the situation around freedom of speech, freedom of gatherings and associations, and ownership rights," the news site reported.

Officials have not commented as yet.

(Eurasianet.org)

Bakudaily.az