Aliyev signs 'historic' pardon decree

On March 20, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan signed a decree granting a pardon to 114 convicts. The document expresses confidence that "all those released will make the right conclusion from the humanistic decision of the head of state and will break the law no more."

Among those pardoned, 53 were on the list of political prisoners drawn up by the Council of Europe which demanded that all people on it should be released. The press release emphasises, "They were sentenced for crimes against statehood and national independence, as well as a number of other grave crimes." Some of those the decree applies to were convicted of taking part in the October 1994 coup attempt, while others of the March 1995 anti-government revolt of a special police force.

Leaders of some major opposition parties convicted of organising and taking part in the upheavals in Baku on 15-16 October 2003, right after a presidential election in the country, will also be released. Among them are Arif Gadzhily and Ibrahim Ibrahimli, deputy chairs of the Musavat Party; Rauf Arifoglu, deputy chair of the Musavat Party and editor-in-chief of the well-known opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat; Igbal Agazade, leader of the Umid ("Hope") Party and a former MP; Panah Huseinov, chair of the Azerbaijan People's Party; Sardar Dzhalaloglu, Secretary General of the Democratic Party; and Etimad Asadov, leader of the disbanded Karabakh War Veterans' Association.

The president has today granted a pardon to Razim Kaziyev, who was the defence minister in 1992-93. In May 1995, Kaziyev was sentenced to capital punishment for high treason. His sentence was subsequently replaced with life imprisonment. There was a retrial later still, as demanded by the Council of Europe, and the court changed Kaziyev's sentence for 18 years in prison.

In his comment on the presidential decree, human rights activist Eldar Zeynalov said, "This amnesty has not solved the problem of political prisoners though, but I still can only welcome it. It is already the sixth amnesty for the period of Ilham Aliyev's presidency and this one is historic because the number of political prisoners released (179) has for the first time exceeded those still in prison (134). By releasing the opposition leaders, the Azerbaijani authorities make a step towards Europe, away from old methods of government which make any dialogue and compromise with the opposition impossible."

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More about Azerbaijan:

• Human Rights Practices in Azerbaijan - 2004