Source: contact.az
The Baku Court of Appeal on July 21, 2015 is set to consider the appeals of the convicted human rights activists Intigam Aliyev and Rasul Jafarov,
contact.az
reported.
Amnesty International described both Aliyev and Jafarov as prisoners of conscience. On August 8, 2014, Aliyev was arrested on charges of tax evasion and fraud, widely seen as trumped-up by human rights groups. On April 22, he was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. Jafarov was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. He was arrested on August 2, 2014 on the same charges as Aliyev.
Jafarov is the Chairman of the Human Rights Club, and coordinator of the Art for Democracy campaign, a platform to raise human rights awareness in Azerbaijan. Rasul was behind the Sing for Democracy campaign during the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012.
Aliyev is a prominent human rights defender and lawyer. On July 14, 2015, 95 lawyers from 24 countries addressed a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Aliyev.
Florian Irminger
, Head of Advocacy at the Human Rights House Foundation, told Meydan TV: “Intigam Aliyev’s health condition has continuously worsened in prison. Enough now is enough: he needs medical care, and he needs it outside of the prison! It is absolutely contrary to basic humanitarian principles that he is denied health care, kept in miserable detention conditions. We believe this is the way the authorities are punishing him in prison, in addition to simply detaining him. We call for an immediate release for humanitarian reasons.”
