National Preventive Group conducted visit to Penitentiary Facility No.6

Within the National Preventive Mechanism activity of the Ombudsman, visits are conducted to the places which persons can’t leave on their own will in order to investigate the detention conditions, treatment issues and organization of health services.

 The NPG members conducted the next visit within the framework of this activity to the penitentiary facility No.6 under the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice without prior notice.

During the visit, also attended by the physician-member of the NPG, several convicts, including Babek Hasanov, were received and heard in a confidential manner; appeals were examined on site.

B.Hasanov reported that he was placed in quarantine for new convicts since the day he was brought to the facility and is now in the common area.

It should be mentioned that Internal Disciplinary Rules imply that all the convicts, newly entered the penitentiary facilities, undergo complex sanitary cleaning and medical examination within a day and are placed in quarantine areas up to two weeks.

In the course of meeting, convict B.Hasanov noted that normal conditions were created for talking with family members on phone and meeting with relatives from the first day of being brought to the facility; he didn’t complain about the detention conditions or treatment of staff members of the facility with him. B.Hasanov also underwent medical examination.

The purpose of the visit, organized on the basis of the requirements of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) and the Constitutional Law on the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was to investigate the received appeals, to learn the status of ensuring the rights of convicts and adequate documentation.