31 October 2008, 19:00
Institute for Peace and Democracy state torture in jails of Azerbaijan
In 2008, at least three persons died in Azerbaijani police stations during the first hours after detention. This is stated in the document issued by the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) of Azerbaijan, headed by human rights defender Leila Yunus.
"Beatings, tortures and, as the result, deaths in the jails subordinated to the MIA and the Ministry of Justice (police stations and penitentiary establishments) are among most actual problems of human rights violations in Azerbaijan," runs the statement of the IPD of October 28, now at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Like in the previous years (in 2006, at least 9 persons died of torture in police stations), none of MIA officers has been brought to criminal liability, the IPD has stated.
Illegitimate actions applied to convicts kept in the jails subordinated to the Ministry of Justice, also have no consequences for infringing Ministry's officials. No objective investigation was ever held into the death in custody of Faina Kungurova in November 2007, and, accordingly, none of the employees of the Ministry of Justice was punished. In Azerbaijan, after 2000, none of the workers of the MIA or Ministry of Justice has been brought to criminal liability under Articles 113 (torture) and 133 (use of torture) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, runs the statement.
Author: Faik Medzhid, CK correspondent
