Authorities must release Tofig Yagublu and provide the medical care he urgently needs
On March 10, Tofig Yagublu, a former member of the opposition Musavat party and a senior politician in the National Council of Democratic Forces, a coalition of opposition parties and activists, was sentenced to nine years on bogus fraud and forgery charges.
Responding to the alarming decline in Tofig Yagublu’s health, who is serving a nine-year prison term and has been on a hunger strike since 1 April, Free Voices Collective said:
“Tofig Yagublu has been in administrative and long-term detention several times during his political career. His prolonged persecution for criticising the government puts his life at grave risk.”
“The authorities must immediately release him, drop the charges, and ensure he receives the medical care he urgently needs.”
Background
Yagublu was arrested on December 14, 2023, while exiting the metro in central Baku. The following day, he received four months of pre-trial custody, which was extended multiple times until June 2024, when his trial began.
Following his sentence, Yagublu announced he would start a hunger strike on April 1 to protest the unjust court decision. In a message sent by Yagublu and shared by his daughter Nigar Hezi, Yagublu said he would rather die than leave the prison at the age of 75.
It has now been 14 days since Yagublu’s hunger strike began. In addition to significant weight loss, the veteran politician has difficulty walking, feels dizzy, loses his balance, and is very weak. In what Yagublu describes as an orchestrated court decision ordered by President Ilham Aliyev, the politician asserts he will continue no matter the consequences: “My decision is final. Either freedom or death!”
Tofig Yagublu was detained multiple times during his political career.
In 2013, the politician received a five-year sentence on charges of organizing protests in Azerbaijan’s northern region of Ismayilli. In 2017, following a pardon, Yagublu was released. He was later arrested on charges of hooliganism on March 22, 2020, allegedly on the grounds of causing a car accident, insulting and injuring the driver of another car and the driver’s wife. As a result, he was handed 4 years and 3 months in prison by the verdict of the Nizami District Court.
Immediately after the verdict, on September 2, 2020, Yagublu announced a 17-day hunger strike to protest his unjust arrest. Due to the deterioration of his condition, he was transferred from the pre-trial detention center to a hospital. On September 18, 2020, by the decision of the Baku Court of Appeal, he was released under house arrest.
On July 15, 2021, the Baku Court of Appeal replaced the 4-year and 3-month sentence with a suspended sentence.
Tofig Yagublu’s arrest in December 2023 is part of a relentless assault on government opponents, journalists, rights defenders, scholars, and other critics, which started in November 2023 and continues to date.