Azerbaijani rights defenders disappointed with small number of pardoned political prisoners

The decree on pardoning signed by the Presidential of Azerbaijan has not solved the problem of political prisoners. This opinion was voiced by members of human rights organizations and opposition parties interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

On March 16, the President of Azerbaijan signed a decree to pardon 423 prisoners. The number of the pardoned prisoners includes five persons recognized as political prisoners. Nazim Agabekov, a relative of Emin Milli, the chief of the Internet edition "Meydan.tv", has been freed from the conditional sentence. Rovshan Zakhidov and Rufat Zakhidov, relatives of Ganimat Zakhidov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Azadliq", who left Azerbaijan for political reasons, were pardoned. The number of the pardoned prisoners also includes blogger Abdul Abilov and Elvin Abdullaev (Abdullazadeh), an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA).

Elshan Gasanov, the leader of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners, has stated that the act of pardon did not meet the expectations.

"Out of our list of 167 political prisoners, only four persons will be released," noted Elshan Gasanov.

According to Rasul Jafarov, the chair of the Human Rights Club, the pardoning had no significance in the context of solving the problems of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

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