Tofig Yagublu Says Prisoners at Correctional Facility No. 17 Are Without Water and Electricity

Imprisoned Azerbaijani opposition politician Tofig Yagublu says Correctional Facility No. 17 has been left with almost no electricity for a week and is now also experiencing a disruption to its water supply.

Yagublu conveyed the information to the public through his daughter, Nigar Hazi, who published a statement on social media on July 27.

Citing her father, Hazi said electricity is available at the prison for only one or two hours a day.

“Imagine that there is no electricity during the extreme summer heat. Refrigerators do not work, prisoners cannot find cool drinking water and cannot wash. In temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, food naturally spoils and has to be thrown away. As if the lack of electricity were not enough, the facility no longer has running water either. People are being held in conditions resembling a prison camp,” she wrote.

Hazi described Correctional Facility No. 17 as overcrowded, semi-closed and unsanitary, saying the absence of electricity and water had made conditions even more unbearable.

“When you imagine the situation inside, it is difficult to feel comfortable even outside,” she added.

Prisoners and their relatives have repeatedly complained about inadequate utilities and poor detention conditions in Azerbaijani prisons. Officials generally reject such allegations.

Tofig Yagublu, a member of the National Council of Democratic Forces and the Musavat Party, was sentenced by the Baku Court for Grave Crimes on March 10, 2025, to nine years in prison.

He was convicted of large-scale fraud and the preparation or use of forged documents. Yagublu denies the charges and says the case against him is politically motivated.