Activists called on the President of Azerbaijan to facilitate Mammadli’s treatment in a civilian clinic

A group of civil society representatives and journalists from Azerbaijan have appealed to President Ilham Aliyev to help create conditions for the treatment of Toplum TV founder Alesker Mammadli, who is in custody, in a civilian clinic.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote that the activists and journalists arrested in the Toplum TV case, who were initially accused of currency smuggling, were charged in January with new charges under six criminal articles. They face up to 12 years in prison. Toplum TV positioned itself as an independent platform for expressing different opinions on socio-political and socio-economic events. On February 10, Toplum TV announced the suspension of its activities in Azerbaijan.

12 representatives of civil society, human rights activists and journalists sent an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev, expressing concern about the health of Alesker Mammadli.

“As a result of a medical examination after his arrest, Alesker Mammadli was found to have a (cancer-risk formation) in his thyroid gland, serious problems with his liver, kidneys and pancreas… According to the medical protocol, if the thyroid gland increases by more than 15 mm, surgical intervention may be required,” the appeal says. It also points out that Mammadli has increased “symptoms such as acute suffocation, headaches, dizziness and nausea,” and “this situation poses a real threat to his life.”

The authors of the appeal also expressed hope that “on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the National Press (celebrated on July 22 – note by the “Caucasian Knot”), a special approach will be shown to the well-known expert in the field of media rights, Alesker Mammadli.” In particular, it contains a request to provide assistance in considering “legal possibilities for conducting a surgical operation on Alesker Mammadli in one of the specialized civilian clinics.”

Among those who signed the petition are journalist Mehman Aliyev, chairman of the Yeni Nesil Azerbaijani Journalists' Union Arif Aliyev, chairwoman of the Dilara Aliyeva Women's Rights Protection Society Novella Jafaroglu, head of the Azerbaijan National Section of the International Society for Human Rights Saadat Bananyarli, chairwoman of the Public Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Legality Saida Gojamanli.

The head of state has the authority to recommend that law enforcement and judicial bodies consider changing the preventive measure of an arrested person for humanitarian reasons to provide him with medical assistance, said Mammadli's lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev. “In this case, we are talking about a respected and well-known person in society, a lawyer, a media expert,” Mekhtiyev said in an interview with a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Representatives of the prosecution were not available for comment.

Journalists from other media outlets, including Abzas Media, Meydan TV and Kanal-13, were also persecuted in the country. You can read about this in the “Caucasian Knot” report “Serial arrests of journalists in Azerbaijan”.