![Among those pardoned: two "prisoners of conscience" and 11 political prisoners](https://turan.az/resized/media/2012/main/122600022902-750-500-resize.webp)
Among those pardoned: two "prisoners of conscience" and 11 political prisoners
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on December 26, 2012 pardoning 87 people. Seventy nine of them were released from a prison sentence, four from hard labor, and another four from penalties.
Among those pardoned are two "prisoners of conscience" - human rights activist Vidadi Iskenderli and PPFA member Shahin Hasanli.
In addition, 11 other people pardoned were from the list of local human rights defenders and political prisoners reported by PACE Rapporteur Christopher Strasser. They are Shamsi Abdullayev (case of Special Police Force), the Iranian television journalist Anar Bayramli, the regional correspondent of the newspaper Khural Aydin Janiyev, two religious leaders from Ganja, Azer Jabiyev and Fakhri Ilyasov (arrested in early 2011), human rights activist Taleh Khasmamedov, Jeyhun Farzullaev (he was convicted, along with the leader of National Statehood Party Nemat Panahli), Mammadali Aliyev (former chief of the Absheron district police office in the mid-1990s; he was wanted on suspicion of committing a number of crimes, including the attempt to overthrow the government, but was arrested in 2008, and in 2010 sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of premeditated murder), and the so-called "prisoners of the hijab" (participants in protests against the ban on wearing headscarves in schools) Mamed Askerov, Ilgar Musayev and Zaur Iskenderov. --0--
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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