Ogtai Gyulyalyev faces threat of being left without nursing care

Azerbaijani human rights defender Ogtai Gyulyalyev is recovering from surgeries he had undergone in Turkey, but still needs constant nursing care, his son says. According to the young man, the nurses caring for his father are not paid salaries and Ogtai Gyulyalyev risks being left without their care.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on October 29, 2019, Ogtai Gyulyalyev, the head of the public alliance “Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners”, who held a press conference on the campaign against torture, was hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing. On November 8, 2020, after long-term treatment in an Istanbul clinic, the human rights defender was transported home.

There has been progress in the health state of Ogtai Gyulyalyev, his son Tabriz Gyulyalyev reports.

Tabriz Gyulyalyev notes that the Heydar Aliev Foundation continued to finance his father’s treatment in Turkey, but the family of the human rights defender decided to return him to Azerbaijan.

“Then medical staff was assigned to perform the procedures for my father. We were assured that further medical treatment will be at the expense of the state,” Tabriz Gyulyalyev said.

However, according to the son of the human rights defender, during five months, “not a single state body has been helping with the purchase of medicines.” Moreover, nurses who provide assistance in treating the human rights defender have not been paid their salaries for three months already, and starting from May 1, they will not be able to do their work, Tabriz Gyulyalyev emphasizes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 27, 2021 at 12:00 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.