Azerbaijani Opposition To Hold Rally On Saturday Calling To Free Political Prisoners

The National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), an Azerbaijani opposition party, plans to hold rally on Saturday in the country's capital of Baku calling for the release of political prisoners, representatives of the party told Sputnik

BAKU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2019) The National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), an Azerbaijani opposition party, plans to hold rally on Saturday in the country's capital of Baku calling for the release of political prisoners, representatives of the party told Sputnik.

"A rally of the NCDF approved by the authorities will be held in Baku on Saturday. The event will take place at the Mahsul stadium in Yasamal district of Baku from 15.00 p.m. to 17.00 p.m. [from 11.00 a.m. to 13.00 p.m. GMT]. The rally will be held with calls for release of blogger Mehman Huseynov and other political prisoners," the party said.

Huseynov, an Azerbaijani journalist and blogger, was imprisoned in March 2017 on defamation charges after he claimed that he was tortured in the police department of the Nasimi District of Baku. On December 26, Huseynov was accused of beating of a prison employee. The blogger, in turn, went on a hunger strike. Later, officials of the Office of the Ombudsman and human rights activists, who were allowed to visit the prisoner, said that Huseynov ate, received parcels and was daily monitored by a prison doctor.