Journalist Aytaj Tapdig, who is imprisoned in connection with the “Meydan TV case”, has written a letter from the Baku Pretrial Detention Facility, where she remains in custody.
We are publishing Aytaj Tapdig’s article in full below:
During the 20 months I have spent in detention, I have used 80 bottles of nasal spray. Because of my breathing difficulties, I have become completely dependent on it. I finish one bottle every week. I carry it with me almost as if it were an extension of my own body. Those who have experienced this kind of dependency know that stopping the spray can make you feel as though you are suffocating, unable to breathe. Although I did not use the spray so frequently before my imprisonment, prolonged confinement and the conditions of detention have made it increasingly difficult for me to breathe, leaving me dependent on it.
Moreover, the detention center where I am being held was built on drained marshland, apparently to create even harsher conditions for prisoners. The damp environment has also contributed to the worsening of my breathing problems.
My lawyer, Javad Javadov, submitted requests to both the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Penitentiary Service, asking that I be examined by an ENT specialist (otorhinolaryngologist) and receive other necessary medical treatment. However, my lawyer has received no official response.
After the request was submitted, I was taken to the first floor of the Medical and Sanitary Unit where I am being held and met with its chief physician, Vugar Hasanov. He told me that the Ministry of Justice does not employ a full-time ENT specialist. In other words, I will be deprived of the medical treatment my condition requires. That was when this issue began to concern me even more. Does this mean that the Penitentiary Service, which is responsible for thousands of convicted prisoners and detainees, does not have a single ear, nose and throat specialist?
This raises serious questions about whether the state is meeting its obligation to protect their right to life.
By imprisoning people, the state deprives them not only of their liberty but also of one of their most fundamental rights: access to adequate medical care.
The six women journalists arrested in the Meydan TV case are being held on the second floor of the building where doctors work. Yet even that does not make medical examinations accessible to us. The facts show that the Main Medical Department of the Penitentiary Service suffers from a shortage of doctors across many specialties. This is despite the fact that its head, Jamil Kamilli, is himself a physician and is said to be well aware of these shortcomings. However, during the two years he has led the department, there has been no visible progress in addressing staffing shortages. As a result, the Ministry of Justice continues to ignore the suffering of thousands of prisoners.
During our detention, the only medical examination we have undergone was a gynecological one, following a request submitted by our editor-in-chief, Aynur Elgunesh. Hundreds of other women prisoners held in the prison’s main cellblocks have been denied the same examination. In recent days, prisoners have also been told that the Main Medical Department has neither a urologist nor a dermatologist, despite repeated requests for such specialists.
Prisoners suffering from a range of illnesses report that when they call the duty doctor, they are simply given painkiller injections to relieve their symptoms. The detention center treats this as a temporary solution and considers the matter resolved. One of my former cellmates suffered from severe kidney pain and relied on daily injections without exception.
Prison conditions, combined with constant stress and psychological pressure, leave detainees increasingly vulnerable to illness and long-term health problems.
The Ministry of Justice must put an end to this deliberate indifference and recruit qualified, professional doctors to the Main Medical Department.
The international conventions to which Azerbaijan is a party, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), and the standards of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) all guarantee the right of detainees to receive adequate medical care.
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