Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend K.Zarbaliyeva / A group of prisoners of Gobustan closed prison have ended their hunger strike. The head of the prison, Alizade Huseynov, reported to Trend on 24 September that he was informed that this was the case but had not received the statement from the prisoners. The prisoners whose death penalty was changed to life imprisonment had demanded that their term in prison be decreased by 15 years.
According to the Huseynov, six prisoners were on hunger strike. Huseynov said that after the relatives of the prisoners appealed to the Head of the prison, the prisoners were asked to cease the strike. Prisoner Shakir Rzakhanov's mother Muslumat Rzakhanova reported to Trend that she contacted her son by telephone and asked on behalf of all the relatives of the prisoners to stop the strike. "It is wrong to hold such an action during the fasting month. Fasting is for God. It is wrong to go on hunger strike during Ramadan," Rzakhanova said. According to her, she contacted the prison to find out whether the strike had ended. She was told that the strike still continued. She added that the Ombudsman expressed dissatisfaction that the statements and complaints were written in Russian. The Ombudsman warned that the documents in Russian will not be considered further. "The prisoners are dissatisfied with the Ombudsman's decision and requested a translation service to be provided," Rzakhanova said.
Some 85 prisoners serve their term in Gobustan closed prison, whose death penalty was changed by life imprisonment. After canceling the death penalty the number of prisoners reached 128.
Due to Alikram Humbatov's lawsuit, the resolution of the European Court on human rights stated that the change of death penalty with life imprisonment corresponds to the European convention.