Azeri rights defenders urge authorities to release political prisoners

The Baku Human Rights Club (BHRC) has appealed to Ilham Aliev, the President of Azerbaijan, and Samir Nuriev, the Chairman of the Commission on Pardons and the Head of the President's Administration, in connection with the expected prisoners' pardoning timed to the country's Independence Day – May 28.

Rasul Djafarov, the BHRC chairman, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Azerbaijani human rights defenders had provided the country's leadership with a list of 57 whom they ask to pardon. "This is a list of people whose cases contain signs of politically motivated criminal cases. Only a few people from our list are not political prisoners. But there were egregious violations of the law in their cases," Mr Djafarov has explained.

As for particular political prisoners whose pardoning is requested by the BHRC, the list contains Salekh Rustamov, a veteran of the first Karabakh war; those convicted in the "Nardaran" and "Ganja" cases; members of the former OPON detachment, convicted for the 1995 OPON rebellion, and a number of members of political parties, Mr Djafarov has added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 30, 2022 at 03:03 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.