Jailed human rights defender Yashar Agazade's rights to correspondence, newspapers and legal documents reportedly restricted
According to his wife Aygun Ismayilli, the hunger strike Agazade held at Penitentiary Institution No. 6 from 2 to 24 July was not registered, and his complaint to the Prosecutor General was not forwarded to the relevant authority.
The rights of jailed human rights defender Yashar Agazade to correspond with state bodies and to read newspapers and legal documents have reportedly been restricted. It is also alleged that the hunger strike he held at Penitentiary Institution No. 6 was not registered. This was reported on 4 November by the human rights defender's wife, Aygun Ismayilli.
According to Ismayilli, Yashar Agazade refused food from 2 to 24 July 2026 in protest against being subjected to torture, physical violence and other degrading ill-treatment at Penitentiary Institution No. 6, against his conditions of detention and against being unlawfully placed in a punishment cell. However, the institution's administration did not register the hunger strike. Ismayilli said that by doing so the administration violated the requirements of the Code on the Execution of Sentences, the Internal Disciplinary Rules of Penitentiary Institutions and the instruction approved by the Ministry of Justice on the conditions of detention and force-feeding of prisoners who refuse food.
His wife also alleges that the complaint Agazade addressed to Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev was not forwarded to the relevant authority. According to her, Yashar Agazade stated that persons in the leadership and other employees of Penitentiary Institution No. 6 had committed unlawful acts and asked for criminal cases to be opened against them. The complaint names a number of officials, employees and the doctor of the institution.
Ismayilli said that although the complaint was handed to the Baku Investigative Detention Centre to be sent to the Prosecutor General's Office, the detention centre is not forwarding it: “The administration says it is doing this ‘as a sign of solidarity’ with its colleagues. As a result of the unlawful actions of the Baku Investigative Detention Centre, Yashar Agazade's right to correspond with state bodies has been violated. These violations are still continuing. The Penitentiary Service, meanwhile, is not investigating the unlawful actions of the institution under its authority.”
According to Aygun Ismayilli, on 11 October, during a short visit, employees of the Baku Investigative Detention Centre confiscated the newspapers and other documents brought to Yashar Agazade, calling them “harmful materials”. Among them were official newspapers, a speech by Ilham Aliyev, a complaint addressed to the Constitutional Court and normative legal documents. Ismayilli said that on 19 October she sent by post to the detention centre official newspapers, Ilham Aliyev's speech of 2 October, the complaint to the Constitutional Court and the Ministry of Justice's “Instruction on the conditions of detention of convicts and detainees refusing food in penitentiary institutions and their force-feeding”, but that this time too the materials were not given to Agazade and are still being kept at the institution: “As a result of the unlawful actions of the institution's administration, Yashar Agazade's right to be provided with newspapers and normative legal acts has been violated. This situation is still continuing.”
In 2007 Yashar Agazade was found guilty under Article 147 (defamation) of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison; some time later he was pardoned and released. He was arrested again in April 2024 and, found guilty under Article 182.2.2 (repeated extortion by threat) of the Criminal Code, was sentenced to 5 years and 1 month in prison. His sentence was later extended by another 5 months. Yashar Agazade rejects the charges and says his arrest was politically motivated.
