Over 100 political prisoners still in jail - Zeinalov

Yesterday, on July 13, Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, published a report about political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Schwimmer observed practically all such persons had been released in Azerbaijan, or their cases had been reviewed.

While commenting on this event, Eldar Zeinalov, director of Azerbaijan's human rights center AIHMM, who had initiated drawing up the list of 716 supposed political prisoners jailed in January 2001, remarked: "Criteria for political prisoners developed by experts will be a useful argument in debate about political prisoners all over Europe. It is known, however, that hundreds of citizens were sued for political motives during Azerbaijan's 3.5 years with the Council of Europe. The Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan, AIHMM being among its founders, has prepared additional lists of 132 supposed political prisoners whose cases have never been studied by COE experts. Among them are 47 people who had been arrested before Azerbaijan joined the COE, but were omitted in the above-mentioned list of 716 political prisoners; 51 people were arrested after January 2001; and 34 are those confined after the post-election protests on October 15 and 16, 2003. At least eight political prisoners died in confinement while lengthy procedures of checking their status and discussing their destiny were underway. Five more people died soon after their pardon. The authorities are entirely to blame for these deaths."