22:17, 20 March 2007

Azerbaijani human rights defenders think the problem of political prisoners still exists

The Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan (HRCA) is satisfied with the govt's efforts to settle the problem of political prisoners. On March 19, 2007, 11 persons from the list compiled by the Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (FHROA) were pardoned, the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" reports.

The majority of those pardoned are the people convicted on political motives in 2001-2005. By his Decree, the president has repaired the violations of the European standards of judicial proceedings, committed by the judiciary system already after accession of the country to the Council of Europe.

According to the FHROA, nowadays, 65 political prisoners are still in custody, the cases of 9 more persons are in the courts. The FHROA is also monitoring 10 cases, in which initial political charges were replaced by non-political ones.

The HRCA is emphasizing the persistence of the problem of political prisoners. Ms. Leila Yunus, director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, also thinks this problem remains unsolved in Azerbaijan.

Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent