AZERI PRESSURE GROUP STOPS HUNGER STRIKE OVER ARRESTED MEMBERS

Ekho, Baku
17 Jul 04

Text of X. Qasimova’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 17 July
headlined “The KLO has stopped the hunger strike”

Activists of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) stopped their
hunger strike yesterday, the KLO deputy chairman, Barat Imani, has
told Ekho. According to him, the action stopped at 1200 (0700 gmt) at
the request of the chairman of the committee to protect the rights of
the arrested KLO activists, Isaxan Asurov, and lawyer Elcin Qambarov.
Imani said that the hunger strikers agreed with Asurov and Qambarov
that the judiciary could see the hunger strike as pressure on the
court.

“The action caused an outcry in society. But we were simply surprised
at the attitude of MPs from the Karabakh region. With the exception of
MP Karam Aliyev, they did not even try to express their opinion on the
issue. As for Karam Aliyev’s statement on the populist actions of the
KLO activists, we try not to react to utterances of this kind,” Imani
said.

(Three KLO members began a hunger strike on 12 July, demanding the
release of six of their colleagues arrested for protesting against the
participation of Armenian officers in a NATO conference in Baku)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress