• Tweeter

  • republish

Baku, capital of Azerbaijan (photo illustration). (cc) Wikimedia / Gulustan

In Azerbaijan, the Attorney General's office lifted the new charges against blogger and human rights defender Mehman Huseynov. The 26-year-old is serving a two-year prison sentence, but could be sentenced to up to seven more years. He began a hunger strike last December 26th to protest against these new charges, despite the fact that, in the opinion of all human rights NGOs, he has no doubt already been imprisoned for denouncing corruption in this former Soviet republic, rich in hydrocarbons.

With our correspondent in Tbilisi, Régis Genté

Two things seem to have pushed the Azerbaijani dictatorship to cancel the new charges against Mehman Huseynov.

The demonstration of Sunday, January 20, which gathered thousands of people to demand the cancellation of these charges and has obviously worried President Aliyev and his hunger strike, he was determined to continue, especially as he was joined by some 20 human rights activists, including the famous journalist Khadija Ismailov.

These two forms of pressure from the people have therefore borne fruit. It must also be added to the European Parliament's resolution calling for his immediate release, due in March, because of the manifestly unjust nature of his conviction.

Mehman Huseynov, who created SANCAQ, a socio-political magazine on social networks, documented cases of corruption in the country's ruling circles, arriving shoulder-to-shoulder in front of their luxurious homes.

A few weeks before his conviction, he was also critical of the appointment of the President's wife, Mehriban Alieva, as vice-president of Azerbaijan.