“Following the death in prison of the Azerbaijani blogger Mehman Galandarov, who had been in pre-trial detention for almost three months, I appeal to the Azerbaijani authorities to shed light on the circumstances of his death,” said Alain Destexhe (Belgium, ALDE), PACE rapporteur on “Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship of the Council of Europe: what follow-up on respect for human rights?”.
Mr Destexhe has written to Azerbaijan’s Minister of Justice to request that an inquiry be carried out as soon as possible, and that the conclusions be communicated to the rapporteur.
On 28 April 2017, Mr Galandarov was found hanged in his cell at No. 1 Detention Center in Baku. In February, he was arrested in circumstances that are not clearly established. According to some NGOs, his arrest may have been linked to statements he made in support of a “prisoner of conscience” on his Facebook private account.