Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. К.Zarbaliyeva / Ten prisoners launched a hunger-strike with a demand to meet with the delegation of the European Parliament who is on a visit to Azerbaijan, in the closed Gobustan prison on 12 September, the relatives of the prisoners said to the Trend Agency. Other prisoners may join hunger-strike actions.
The leadership of Gobustan prison did not allow the prisoners to meet with Tomas Hammerberg, the commissar of the Council of Europe on human rights, the relatives of the prisoners noted.
The prisoners wanted to discuss the issue concerning to change the life imprisonment with 15 years in prison with Hammerberg. However, the leadership of the prison did not allow the prisoners to meet with the commissar, the relatives said.
The leadership of the prison does not allow submitting of letter of the prisoners to the State, international organizations and NGOs, as well as to their own families.
Some 84 prisoners have been kept in the closed Gobustan prison, the death penalty of which was changed with life imprisonment.
Prisoners consider that the life imprisonment must be changed with 15 years in prison after cancellation of the death penalty.
The European Court on Human Rights' regulation on Alikram Humbatov's lawsuit considers that change of death penalty by life-term imprisonment corresponds to the European Convention. The life-term imprisonment is lighter than death penalty and cannot be considered as grave crime.