The treatment of us is worse than the treatment of prisoners of war
The imprisoned director of “Abzas Media” Ulvi Hasanli addressed a letter to the public.
Toplum TV reports with reference to the social media account of “Abzas Media” that although the letter was written in the last days of last year, it was possible to get it only now due to the ban on meeting with the families.
In his letter, Ulvi Hasanli said that the employees of “Abzas Media” were completely isolated in the prison.
“We – Sevinj Vagifgizi, Nargiz Absalamova, Hafiz Babaly, Muhammad Kekalov and I are in complete isolation. Neither telephone conversation nor meeting with our families is allowed. There is even a ban on calling our lawyers, the Ombudsman, and writing letters to our relatives. They don’t give us books from our families either. If they have it, they won’t leave even a piece of bread brought by our relatives. They don’t want us to eat because they don’t want us to starve.”
Ulvi Hasanli noted that the government’s attitude towards them is harsher than towards prisoners of war:
“They are given the opportunity to talk to their families on the phone at least once a month, but we don’t have that at all. The reason for this is obvious. The government hates and shows hostility towards free journalists, critics and those who speak the truth. But it shouldn’t be. Those in the government should understand that it is impossible to completely prevent criticism and free speech. The truth is subtle, but not sad.”
“Abzas Media” journalists were arrested at the end of last year on charges of foreign currency smuggling. They are accused of receiving “illegal” money from foreign donors.
Journalists deny the charges and attribute their arrests to their professional activities.