“There is no medicine in the detention center, they treat it with Nemesil” |

“How is it that there is no equipment to take analysis in such a large enterprise?”

Journalist Nargiz Absalamova, an employee of “AbzasMedia” in prison, explained that the female prisoners suffering from illness in the 2nd building of the Baku Interrogation Detention Center (BIT) No. 1, where she was detained, could not receive timely and quality medical care.

“AbzasMedia” reported on this on November 5.

Nargiz Absalamova wrote that although female prisoners suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, and various diseases of internal organs, the doctors who come to their calls are often without medicine:

““We don’t have the appropriate medicine for that disease” is the answer often heard by the prisoners here. Regardless of the disease, doctors give “Analgin”, “Aspirin” or “Nemesil” and leave the prisoner’s cell. The doctors of the night shift advise to relieve all the pain with painkillers and wait for the arrival of a doctor named Guney Hasanova in the morning. But it is not known how many mornings it will take for the South doctor to arrive. Because the doctor does not come to the building once or twice a week, and sometimes not at all. When she arrives, she allocates only 1-2 hours to the prisoners and gives priority to the prisoners who pay in advance. In the rest of the time, other people are trying to get admission.”

“Shamsiyya Ismayilova, a prisoner who has been detained in BIT for a year, says that although Guney has consulted a doctor about high blood pressure and neurological problems for more than two months, he neither examines her, nor gives her medicine, nor writes a prescription so that she can buy it herself. My blood pressure rises every day. It happens that I can’t stand still because of the pain. I ask other prisoners and buy painkillers. It happens that I take 4-5 painkillers a day. Is it such a pain? Because the supervisors asked the South doctor, he took me to USM examination a couple of times. I say, USM does not show anything, at least take a blood test, maybe the cause was found in my blood. He says that we do not have analysis. So what should I do? How is it that there is no equipment to take analysis in this size enterprise? The doctors on duty who came in the evening say that “your pain is due to nerves”. As far as I know, Mrs. Guney is a neuropathologist.” – he said.

Nargiz Absalamova further writes that Shamsiyya Ismayilova was also seen by the chief doctor:

“The chief doctor instructed Mrs. Guney to examine and treat him, but this task was forgotten as soon as he left the door.”

“Talking with the prisoners, it becomes clear that the Southern doctor connects them (except for political prisoners) to the system for money, asks 20 manats for the analysis, and sends the prisoners to the treatment facility under the Penitentiary Service for 200-300 manats. There are two dentists in the prison. Among them, a doctor named Taleh asks for money from the prisoners for dental treatment. The only thing that is free is to be of the tooth. The rest of the procedures are done only with payment. In the institution, doctors do not work in their specialties. Although Dr. Guney is a neuropathologist by profession, he is entrusted with the examination and treatment of all diseases.– added the prisoner journalist.

Absalamova said that they had repeatedly complained to the head of the detention center, Elnur Ismayilova, about the current situation, but they only received “one answer”: “Doctors do not follow us”.

He emphasized that when this problem was brought to the attention of the staff of the Ombudsman’s Office, who came to the institution, they were satisfied with registration.

“Until now, it has not been possible to get a refund from them.”

On November 4, the director of “AbzasMedia” Ülvi Hasanli, in a letter written from the Baku Detention Center No. 1, where he was detained, stated that the situation in the prison is bad.

According to the journalist, there are two reasons for a number of restrictions, pressure and threats in the Baku Pretrial Detention Center, where they have been detained for almost a year:

“One of them is to publicize the tortures and illegalities in the prison. The management of the Baku Pre-trial Detention Center (BIT) and the Penitentiary Service (PX) think that systematic torture, inhumane treatment, corruption, arbitrariness, election fraud will be carried out in the prison before our eyes, and for some reason we will not talk about these criminal acts. Due to the fact that we highlighted the problems, the management of PX started resorting to the next cheap pressure methods against us. Obstacles are being created to meet Sevinj Vagifgizi, Nargiz Absalamova, Elnara Gasimova and my family members.

Meydan TV appealed to Tanriverdi Mustafayev, the head of the public relations department of the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice, regarding both letters.

T. Mustafayev said that what Ulvi Hasanli wrote was not true.

He said that the questions related to the notes in Nargiz Absalamova’s letter do not belong to them, but to the Chief Medical Department of the relevant ministry.

Iftikhar Gurbanov, a doctor of the General Medical Department, said that they will investigate what Nargiz Absalamova wrote and inform the press service of the Ministry of Justice.

Arrest of journalists and pressure on the media…

Arrests in the “AbzasMedia” case, known for its corruption investigations, began on November 20.

First, the site’s director Ulvi Hasanli, deputy director Mahammad Kekalov, and editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifqizi were arrested.

Later, arrests continued with investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova.

They were charged under Article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code (smuggling by a group of people).

Recently, new accusations have been made, such as tax evasion, legalization of proceeds of crime, and illegal entrepreneurship.

After Ulvi Hasanli was detained on November 20, the office of “AbzasMedia” was searched.

It was claimed that 40,000 euros were found in the site’s office.

Ulvi Hasanli said that there was no money there, that 40,000 euros were deposited in the office by those who claimed to have found it.

None of the mentioned journalists are guilty, they said that they were punished for investigations related to the business and corruption of a number of officials, including members of the President’s family, in “AbzasMedia”.

After “AbzasMedia”, the managers and employees of “Kanal 13” internet channel, “Toplum TV” news portal and internet television of the same name, “meclis.info” website, which investigates the activities of the Milli Majlis and deputies, were also arrested on charges of smuggling.

It is alleged that these media organizations received grants from foreign organizations and smuggled those funds into the country. However, the journalists reject this accusation and state that they were arrested without any evidence related to smuggling.

They stated that the purpose of these arrests is to silence media organizations that investigate corruption and official arbitrariness in the country and inform the public.