Three political prisoners released in Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan, the list of those pardoned has included three persons, earlier recognized by human rights defenders as political prisoners: Jabbar Savalan, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA); Nizami Shakhmuradov, a former OPON (riot police) commander; and Mekhman Mamedov, the driver and ex-Prosecutor of Baku.

Let us remind you that tonight Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev signed a decree to pardon 92 convicts. 75 people are exempted from further imprisonment, one person - from his conditional sentence, two - from corrective works, and 14 - from fines.

Earlier, Jabbar Savalan was named a prisoner of conscience by the Amnesty International. The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 4 the Sumgait City Court sentenced Jabbar Savalan to 2.5 years in prison on charges of illegal drug possession; and on July 26 the Sumgait Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. Jabbar Savalan was detained on February 5. According to the police, 0.17 grams of opium was found on him. According to Savalan, the drug was planted on him.

According to Abulfaz Gurbanly, the head of the youth branch of the PFPA, Savalan was detained for political reasons; in particular, for his active participation in the oppositional march on January 20 to mark the 21st anniversary of entry of Soviet Troops into Baku to suppress the national democratic movement.

Nizami Shakhmuradov and Mekhman Mamedov, also pardoned today, were recognized by human rights defenders as political prisoners in the context of their arrest many years on political cases, which had not been objectively investigated and fairly tried.

Thus, Shakhmuradov, a former commander of the OPON (riot police), was convicted on the events of March 1995 (an anti-government rebellion, - note of the "Caucasian Knot"). For a long time he was hiding from the investigation abroad. But in 2007 he returned to Baku for his mother's funeral, and then surrendered to the authorities. In 2008, he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.

Mekhman Mamedov, the driver of the former prosecutor Mamed Guliev, was sentenced in 2006 to seven years in prison on charges of a coup d'etat attempt in 2000. According to the investigation, the putsch was prepared by Makhir Javadov, the former prosecutor of the Khatain District of Baku.

Human rights defenders have different opinions about the current amnesty. Einullah Fatullaev, a former political prisoner and the head of the NGO "For Human Rights", has welcomed the pardon and expressed hope that "future pardons would cover all the innocent convicts."

In her turn, Leila Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, has expressed regret that "the current act of pardon, like the previous ones, has failed to solve the problem of political prisoners." According to her story, "this is an indication of the lack of political will in the authorities to solve the problem of political prisoners, and of their intention to continue pursuing the policy of repressions against their opponents." According to Ms Yunus, the country's prisons continue keeping about 70 political prisoners.