Pardon decree has not solved problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, rights defenders assert

The decree to pardon 92 persons, signed by President of Azerbaijan, has not solved the problem of political prisoners in the country, local human rights activists believe. At the same time, Saida Godzhamanly, head of the Bureau of Human Rights and Law Defence, has positively assessed the decree from the standpoint of humanism.

According to her version, out of the list of political prisoners compiled by the Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (MGHROA) three persons were pardoned - Rovshan Yusifov, who was a figurant "in the case of former Prime Minister Suret Guseinov", and two former servicemen of the OPON (special police unit) - Rovshan Aliev and Mansur Guliev. These persons were arrested in the second half of the 2000s for their involvement in the events of the 1990s.

Ms Godzhamanly expressed her regret that the pardon list did not have the name of journalist Fatullaev.

According to her version, 20 other political prisoners mentioned in the MGHROA list are still in prison.

Mirvari Gakhramanly, head of the Committee in Defence of Oilers' Rights, has regretted that "the present decree, like the previous ones, has failed to solve the problem of political prisoners."

According to Leila Yunus, director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, only one person from the list of the Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (FHROA) was pardoned (the above mentioned Rovshan Aliev). As she noted, at least 50 political prisoners out of the FHROA list are still in prison.

She has regretted that among those pardoned there were no names of such undoubted political prisoners like youth activist Ruslan Bashirli and journalist Einullah Fatullaev.

In her comment on the number of political prisoners Ms Yunus said that their number is not decreasing: instead of single individuals pardoned or those who have already served their full sentences, new political prisoners appear." In particular, she pointed to the conviction for 1.5-3 years of three believers on charges of resistance to the police. "In fact, they only took part in the rally of believers, which was dispersed by the militia in February this year," she said.

Emin Guseinov, director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, also criticized the non-release from the prison of journalist Einullah Fatullaev and other political prisoners.