Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. К.Zarbaliyeva / A decision made by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court on the appeal of a prisoner in Gobustan prison, who went on hunger strike, has stirred up discontent among the rest of the prisoners, relatives of life imprisoned prisoner said.
Natik Mirzoyev who was sentenced to life imprisonment appealed to the Supreme Court to reduce his sentence after the abolishment of the death sentence. The Supreme Court responded to Mirzoyev the same way as to other prisoners in a similar position.
"Other prisoners complained against similar decisions by the Supreme Court. For some applicants the Supreme Court makes a decision within 15 days but for others it is within three days. This means the Court does not examine the appeal in detail and makes false decisions," relatives stated.
The Supreme Court considers it legal, grounded and humanitarian to change the death penalty to life imprisonment.
One of the prisoners, Rauf Eyvazov, sewed up his own mouth to protest against false information from the Penal Service regarding the suspension of the hunger-strike.
Tomas Hammerberg, the Council of Europe's commissar, visited a range of prisons and investigation cells during his visit to Azerbaijan. Hammberg noted the absence of ventilation systems in Azerbaijani prisons.
Sick prisoners, Mubariz Niyazov and Magsud Huseynov, are kept in the same cell as other inmates, which may present a danger to others.
Fifteen prisoners whose death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment went on hunger-strike in Gobustan prison.
The prisoners are demanding the implementation of articles 8.8 and 8.9 of the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the EU. Four prisoners still continue to hunger-strike in the Penal Service.
Some 84 prisoners are detained in Gobustan closed prison, their death penalties were commuted to life imprisonment.
The prisoners consider that life imprisonment must be changed to15 years imprisonment after the abolishment of the death penalty.
The European Court on Human Rights' regulation on Alikram Humbatov's lawsuit considers that the change of the death penalty to life-term imprisonment corresponds to European Convention. Life imprisonment is lighter than the death penalty and cannot be considered as a grave crime.