Aliev, Mamedli and Jafarov resume human rights activity

Azerbaijan should eliminate obstacles to the development of civil society and expend efforts for European integration, the former political prisoners Intigam Aliev, Anar Mamedli and Rasul Jafarov said in their today's joint statement.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Mamedli and Jafarov were pardoned by the order of the President of Azerbaijan on March 17. On March 20, the court ruled to replace the real imprisonment for conditional one for Intigam Aliev, the head of the organization "Society of Legal Enlightenment".

"While noting our positive attitude to the authorities' decision to release the country's 17 political prisoners, we hereby state with great concern that many journalists, bloggers, political activists and members of religious communities are still in jails for their political views and critical positions towards the authorities," says the rights defenders' today's joint statement.

They assert that they want to bring to the attention of the government "the importance of careful attention to the calls of local and international organizations for the release of all political prisoners and enforcement of the resolutions of the Council of Europe, European Union and other organizations."

"Along with the release of activists, journalists, bloggers, and political and religious activists, we call on to urgently start systemic political reforms that eliminate all the causes for the appearance of new political prisoners," Rasul Jafarov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.