Aslan Ahad oglu Qurbanov – blogger Date of arrest: 14 July 2020 Charge: Articles 281.2 (Public appeals to violent capture of authority, violent deduction of authority or violent change constitutional grounds or infringement of territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as distribution of materials of such contents, committed repeatedly or by group of persons) and 283.1 (Разжигание национальной, религиозной, социальной розни) (The actions directed on excitation of national, racial, social or religious hate and hostility, humiliation of national advantage, as well as actions directed on restriction of citizens rights, or establishment of the superiority of citizens on the basis of their national or racial, social belonging, creeds committed publicly, including with use of mass media) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic.
On 16 July 2020, the Baku City Sabayil District Court issued a ruling: to apply a preventive measure against Aslan Qurbanov in the form of arrest for a period of 4 months.
The period of detention in custody during the investigation has been subsequently extended times Sentence: On 15 April 2021, the Baku City Court of Serious Crimes sentenced to 7 years in prison Place of detention: Penal Colony № 10 in Baku City Narimanov District Conclusion: Aslan Qurbanov (born in 1994), a blogger, suffers from heart disease and epilepsy, therefore he was basically not working, stayed at home and was active on a social network, where he promoted the history and culture of his Talysh ethnic group.
At the same time, on the eve of his arrest, he published on his Facebook a text containing the statements about the arrest of Pasha 89 Umudov, an activist of the Azerbaijani Popular Front party, and Rahim Gaziyev, a former Minister of Defence, demanding their release.
On 14 July 2020, he was detained by the State Security Service (SSS).
According to the Talysh Public Council of Azerbaijan (TPCA), Aslan Qurbanov was subjected to force while being detained, suffered from convulsions and lost his consciousness.
The blogger's brother, Sakit Qurbanov, was quoted saying, "We did not have any information about him for good three days following his arrest.
We knew nothing about the reasons of his arrest either.
Later, we found out that my brother was kept in the SSS, and a State lawyer had been appointed to defence him.
We rejected such a defence and signed a contract with the lawyer Ramiz Mammadov".
The accusation against Gurbanov was based on his publications on Facebook and Instagram, where he published the songs, poems and prose written by Talysh authors, promoted the heroes of Talysh origin, Talysh language and literature.
According to the According to the statement of the TPCA, "There was no political content inn these publications on compatriots in Azerbaijan and Iran." A.
Qurbanov occasionally was hospitalised in the Azerbaijan Penitentiary Service medical facility, but his family was not informed about the hospitalisation reasons or diagnosis.
According to Sakit Gurbanov, the family managed to see the arrested blogger for the first time after his arrest in the SSS building only on 8 February 2021: ‘He told us that one of the SSS officers said to him, ’I will do everything to make sure that you are jailed for 10 years, so that it will be a lesson to all Talyshs.
May those who want to live in this country stay, and all those who do not like it, leave.’ The TPCA condemned the arrest and sentence against Aslan Gurbanov, considering it as a “show case”. to intimidate others who are not indifferent to their native language and culture.
In detention, in colony No. 10, Aslan Qurbanov was often subjected to punishments by the administration and placed in isolation cell for far-fetched reasons.
At the end of December 2021, the Court ruled to toughen Qurbanov's imprisonment and transfer him to Gobustan closed prison on the basis of the colony administration's subjective conclusions.
According to the blogger's lawyer, the conditions of detention in this prison are extremely strict. – The prisoners are kept in a solitary cell, they are not allowed to lie down during the day, allowed only an hour's outdoor walk, and restricted visits and telephone conversations.
Staying in such a prison for seriously ill A.
Qurbanov could negatively affect his health.
Even though the AR Supreme Court reduced A.
Qurbanov's term in this prison to 1 year, it will still inevitably affect the health of the Talysh activist.
