Disciplinary Cell as a Response to Hunger Strike …

Analysis

Reports indicate that economist Fazil Gasimov, who was sentenced to 9 years by the Baku Grave Crimes Court on March 13, 2025, has begun a hunger strike in the Umbaki penitentiary complex, where he has been held since May 10.

According to reports, he is striking to protest the violation of his rights in the penitentiary complex.

During the hearing on May 21 of the appeal filed against the verdict of the Baku Grave Crimes Court, Gasimov said that he was placed in a punishment sell (commonly called “kartz” or “kartzer” - ed.) for his hunger strike, and that he would only be released from the cell if he ceased hunger strike.

“Tribunat” investigated the legality of transferring a detainee for holding a hunger strike to a punishment cell.

In accordance with domestic legislation, a punishment cell is a place intended for the accommodation of prisoners and detainees held in pre-trial detention centers and penitentiary institutions. Penitentiary legislation treats placement in a punishment cell as a disciplinary measure.

For men, this period is limited to 7 days in pre-trial detention centers, and to 15 days in penitentiary institutions and prisons, according to the Code of Execution of Sentences.

Article 40 of the Law “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Persons Detained in Places of Detention” regulates the placement of detainees in a punishment cell as an exceptional measure only in the following cases:

• if a person who has previously been subject to disciplinary measures at least twice within a year violates the Internal Disciplinary Rules again;
• if a detainee does not comply with the lawful demands of the prison staff or threatens them;
• if a detainee threatens other persons performing their official duties;
• if a detainee threatens other detainees;
• if a minor act of hooliganism is committed.

There is no information about Fazil Gasimov violating the requirements of the referenced legal norm. The Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice and the administration of the Umbaki penitentiary complex where the economist is detained have not issued any refutations of his statements in the Baku Court of Appeal or any statements about the legal grounds for his placement in a punishment cell.

A detainee's refusal to accept food does not meet any of the five grounds listed in aforementioned Article and is generally not considered a violation of the penitentiary regime.

The Ministry of Justice's Instruction “On the conditions of detention of prisoners and detainees refusing to eat in penitentiary institutions and on their forced feeding” (hereinafter referred to as the Instruction) does not provide for the placement of a striking prisoner or a detainee in a punishment cell. Paragraph 2.8 of the Instruction regulates the isolation of persons who refuse to eat from other persons, their transfer to the medical and sanitary department of the penitentiary institution, the pre-trial detention center and their detention in a separate ward, bearing in mind their health, or their detention in isolation rooms in general and strict regime penitentiary institutions, and in a cell in the cases of special regime penitentiary institutions and prisons, in isolation from other prisoners. 

Namely, according to the requirements of the Instruction, the economist should have been transferred to the medical and sanitary unit and provided with medical supervision, not to the punishment cell in the Umbaki complex for his hunger strike.

The “isolation room” in the referenced paragraph of the instruction does not in any way include a punishment cell.

Another attention-bearing issue is the length of time Gasimov was held in a punishment cell. Media reports indicate that he was placed in a punishment cell on May 21. On June 4, 2025, during the hearing at the court of appeal, it became clear that the economist was still being held in a punishment cell. In this case, the maximum period of 7 days for his detention in a punishment cell as an arrest was violated.

If we refer to F. Gasimov's words, since his placement in the punishment cell was intended to discourage him from refusing to eat, this period could be extended further, leading to the violation to become enduring.

Placement in the punishment cell entails some restrictions for the arrested and the convict. According to the above-mentioned laws and regulations, it is prohibited to take food and personal belongings, with the exception of some household and hygiene items, to the punishment cell. An arrested person placed in a punishment cell is prohibited from receiving parcels, gifts and packages, playing board games, watching television programs, and the right to walk is reduced from 2 hours to 1 hour and the like.

However, stricter restrictions and deprivations than these guidelines are highlighted by both domestic and international bodies. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter, CPT) stated in its latest report on Azerbaijan, dated 2022, that the situation in punishment cells was generally “adequate”, but condemned the practice of the relevant institutions of placing individuals who intend to harm themselves in punishment cells. The 2023 report of the National Preventive Group of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Azerbaijan highlighted violations of sanitary and hygienic rules, inadequate material and living conditions, overcrowding, and placement in punishment cells as a disciplinary measure for minor violations of the regime as a result of visits to punishment cells. Local media reports, however, share a more appalling picture of punishment cells; arrested and convicts are subjected to continuous ill-treatment, while political prisoners are involuntarily placed in long-term punishment cells for reasons arising from their activities.

In view of the above, the placement of Fazil Gasimov in a punishment cell to prevent him from refusing to eat violates the right to the prohibition of torture (Article 3) protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights reached the same conclusion in the cases of Insanov v. Azerbaijan and Aliyev v. Azerbaijan, in light of the unsatisfactory conditions of the prisoner’s accommodation.

Even though the CPT, during its ad hoc visit in 2005, assessed the adoption of a similar document adopted in 2004, the predecessor of the above-mentioned and currently in force Instructions, as a positive step, CPT emphasized the necessity to approach hunger strikes from a “therapeutic” rather than a punitive perspective. However, even if this Instruction prohibits the transfer of an economist to a punishment cell for a hunger strike, despite the long passage of time, it is possible to observe another example of the negative attitude of Penitentiary Service officials to this method of protest in the case of Gasimov.

“Tribunat” concludes that, the refusal of detainees in places of detention and penitentiary institutions to accept food creates a number of obligations for penitentiary institutions. These obligations include isolation from other persons, provision of daily medical supervision and the like. The placement of arrested and prisoners in a punishment cell for a hunger strike is not provided for by domestic legislation. The placement of Fazil Gasimov in a punishment cell in the Umbakı penitentiary complex on May 21 and the fact that he will be released from there on the condition that he stops the hunger strike is illegal. The harsh conditions prevailing in the punishment cells, the economist's placement for more than the maximum period of 7 days, and the fact that this process is still ongoing, constitute a violation of his right not to be subjected to torture, degrading and ill-treatment.