A. Zeynalli: Lists of Violators of Rights of Political Prisoners to Be Announced

It is necessary to compile not only lists of political prisoners, but also those responsible for the falsification of criminal cases. Such an opinion in an interview with Chetin Sual (Difficult Question) column of Turan IA was stated by the journalist and human rights activist Avaz Zeynalli.

He signed both lists of political prisoners compiled by different groups, one of which named 94, and the other – 166 people.

Commenting on the difference between the lists, Zeynalli said the list of 94 includes only 23 people arrested in the Nardaran case as there is no documentary information on the cases of other detainees. And the list of 166 contains the names of all those arrested in the Nardaran events and supporters of the movement Muslim Unity.

According to Zeynalli, it is necessary to take this question in the overall political context. In his view, since the very Nardaran operation was a provocation of law enforcement bodies, all those arrested must be considered political prisoners. Therefore, Zeynalli said the list of 166 is closer to the truth.

In addition, the 166 list includes 15 persons serving life sentences, convicted back in the 90s in cases of coup d'etat. They were originally sentenced to death, and when the death penalty was abolished, their sentence was automatically commuted to life imprisonment without a trial. It was not considered that the law had changed in favor of the convicted.

According to Zeynalli, human rights activists intend to compile lists of investigators, prosecutors and judges, who falsify cases against political prisoners and announce unjust sentences. Also lists of those who torture political prisoners will be drawn up.

According to Zeynalli, the lists of people who were not arrested, but were detained after rallies or taken under police surveillance, should be compiled, too.

There are cases where a crime took place, but the reason was political, such as the arrest of the son of the PFPA activist Tazakhan Miralamli. The activist’s son was arrested at the age of 14 after he committed murder, defending himself from attacks of his classmates, who insulted him for being the son of an opposition activist. This is a political case, Zeynalli said.

The human rights activist also criticized the investigation into the case of the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan Jahangir Hajiyev. In this case the Ministry of Interior imposed a ban on leaving the country for 7,000 people.

He noted that human rights defenders are ready for dialogue with the authorities to address the problem of political prisoners. -06D--