Estonian delegation to OSCE PA called to release political prisoners in Azerbaijan

Two members of Estonian delegation to the OSCE PA – Juku-Kalle Raid Olga Sõtnik just called Ilham Aliyev to release political prisoners. Their  open letter reads: 

“The 23rd Session of the OSCE PA will be held in summer this year in Baku.

Sad fact is, that in past years several persons, who expressed their positions exercising their fundamental rights in Azerbaijan, have been arrested.

Estonian delegation to the OSCE PA calls on for amnesty to political prisoners in Azerbaijan before the Annual Meeting in Baku.

It is an old tradition tradition that during the Olympic Games all weapons stand still and all wars are stopped. We had a very positive meeting with Azebaijan delegation in Vienna about the situation of human rights in their country, and it really gave courage to the OSCE PA members, that you have good will to solve these problems and release the political prisoners.

With this good will note have joined also delegates from Latvia and Lithuania.

In the OSCE PA we all are open for a dialogue and we can with confidence say, that the first steps in talkings were very promising and as the representatives from Azerbaijan delegation remarked, they are ready to discuss current situation.

Freedom is a big word and can never be denied.

Most of our OSCE PA colleges who have talked about circumstances of human rights activists, political oponents, journalists (etc) in Azerbaijan really think that granting a presidential amnesty to people arrested for political reasons would be a most delectable move to all for us and will open many doors for future communications”. -0-