At the briefing with US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price a journalist asked him about leading activist and U.S.-educated Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who he is on hunger strike in jail. It’s been six days now, and today the court refused to release him. There are reports that he is – actually is a subject to torture. The journalist was interested in whether the US authorities discussed this issue with the Azerbaijani officials who arrived in Washington last week.
“Well, we – you heard from us last week, you heard from Vedant last week just how troubled we are and we were by the arrest and the detention of Mr. Hajiyev on the eve, at the time, of Human Rights Day.
We’ve urged Azerbaijan authorities to release him expeditiously. These are conversations that we are in a position to have privately through diplomatic channels with our partners.
We don’t hesitate to raise human rights broadly, systemically, but also individual cases with our partners around the world. And that, of course, includes our partners in Azerbaijan,” Price said.
The journalist also asked the spokesperson about former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's stay in prison and the attitude of the US authorities regarding his health condition. Saakashvili's American doctors recommended that he be taken out of the country.
“So we have – when in it comes to Mr. Saakashvili, we – as you said before, it’s a responsibility of the Georgian Government to treat Mr. Saakashvili fairly and with dignity, including by providing all necessary medical and psychological treatment as recommended by the independent public defenders’ medical experts. They should ensure, of course, that his human rights are protected, and that he is receiving every bit of care that he needs,” Price said.
