Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr K. Zarbaliyeva / Inmates of Gobustan Closed Prison sentenced to life imprisonment have gone on hunger-strike. According to Nubar Karimova, the sister of prisoner Dayanat Karimov, 32 prisoners went on hunger-strike on 18 June. Their death sentences were changed to life imprisonment. The inmates are demanding that their sentences be changed again to 15 years imprisonment.
Karimova noted that an appeal had been made regarding her brother to the European Court on Human Rights.
The department head of the Penitentiary Service of the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry, Rafig Ramazanov, noted that he had not been informed of the hunger-strike in Gobustan Prison. He said that the inmates had not submitted any written appeals to the administration of the prison in connection to this.
A hunger-strike for the same demands was held in Gobustan Prison on 16-20 April 2007.