Jailed Azerbaijani activist Baxtiyar Haciyev’s has launched a new hunger strike to protest against the extension of his pretrial detention over charges of hooliganism and contempt of court.
Haciyev's lawyer, Elcin Sadyqov, said on October 6 that his client started the hunger strike four days earlier after a Baku court ruled in favor of prolonging his pretrial detention for at least three months.
On October 6, a court of appeals in Baku rejected Haciyev's appeal against the extension.
Haciyev held a 50-day hunger strike earlier this year to protest against his arrest and his lawyers said in February that his health had seriously deteriorated as he had lost 20 kilograms.
Haciyev, who was born in 1982, was arrested in early December last year. He rejects the charges.
In June, investigators added charges of illegal entrepreneurship, false entrepreneurship, forgery, use of forged documents, and smuggling. Haciyev has rejected these charges as well.
He previously was convicted on slander charges and had been detained during human rights protests in recent years.
In 2011, Haciyev was given a two-year prison sentence on charges of evading military duty but was released nine months early on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scheduled visit to Baku.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In February, the U.S. State Department expressed concerns over Haciyev's arrest and his state of health, stressing that the charges against him are "understood as politically motivated."
Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.
Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over for his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.