Novruz without pardon?

Baku/19.03.14/Turan : Contrary to expectations , this year on the eve of Novruz the head of state did not sign a decree to pardon, although for many years on the eve of Novruz , this tradition has been respected . The last time an act of pardon was issued after the presidential elections in October 2013. Thus, Ilham Aliyev once again ignored numerous appeals by the international community and the public of Azerbaijan to release political prisoners. It is noteworthy that this is happening against the backdrop of the country's accession to the presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Prisons currently contain a large group of journalists , bloggers and youth activists, and members of opposition parties.

According to the Media Rights Institute , sitting behind bars 9 journalists and 6 bloggers are persecuted for their publication in the media and on the Internet .

So, the editor of the newspaper Khural, Zeinally, was arrested in October 2011 on the complaint of the then parliamentarian Guler Ahmadova and sentenced to 9 years.

The journalist Faramaz Novruzoglu ( Allahverdiyev ) was arrested in April 2012 on charges of inciting a riot and breach of the border crossing and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.

A journalist from the Ucar district, Fuad Huseynov, was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to 6.5 years on charges of hooliganism. Human rights activists believe that the real reason for the arrest is the publication of the involvement of local police in trafficking.

The chief editor of the religious site xeber44.com Araz Guliyev was arrested in September 2012 during the campaign of believers against the dance contest in Masalli and sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal possession of weapons. Before he repeatedly criticized the government for violations of the rights of believers .

The editor of Tolyshi Sado, Hilal Mammadov, was arrested June 21, 2012. September 27, 2013 he was sentenced to five years of strict regime jail on charges of treason , inciting ethnic hatred and drug possession .

The editor of the PS Nota newspaper and the online edition www.psnota.com, Sardar Alibeili, was arrested 31 July 2013. He was charged under Article 221.3 (hooliganism with weapons or objects used as weapons). November 13 he was sentenced to four years of imprisonment.

The Director and Officer of the www.moderator.az site and the newspaper Bizim Yol Parviz Hashimli  was arrested on charges of smuggling and arms trafficking on September 17, 2013.

The editor of the religious site Azadxeber.org, Nijat Aliyev, was sentenced to nine years on charges of drug possession. On this case there are nine believers. The reason for the charge was the video criticizing the Eurovision SC in Baku and spread in social networks.

The observer of Yeni Musavat and the vice-chairman of the party Musavat, Tofig Yagublu, was sentenced to five years in prison on March 17, 2014. Yesterday he was convicted at 5 years for organizing riots in Ismailly .

In addition to these journalists, six activists of social networks are also in jail.

The blogger Rashad Agaaddin (Ramazanov ) was arrested May 9, 2013 in Baku on charges of possession of heroin and sentenced to 8 years.

Rashad Agaaddin Hagigat oglu ( Rashad Ramazanov ) . He harshly criticized the government and ironically wrote about the nomination of Ilham Aliyev to the presidency for the third time . In another record Agaaddin called Azerbaijani authorities " diabolical Aliyev regime ."

Three other bloggers are in the case of activists NIDA, accused of planning the riots at the protest in Baku on March 10, 2013.

One of them, a member of the movement Free Youth, Ilkin Rustamzadeh, was arrested in May 2013 for "performance" of the dance "Harlem Shake" on Baku Boulevard, which was incriminated as bullying, although Rustamzadeh stood aside then.

Two other defendants in the case, Bakhtiyar Guliyev and Mamed Azizov were Heydar Aliyev page administrators on Facebook, where they harshly criticized the authorities .

The administrator of the Facebook pages "Say stop to sycophants!" and "Rigged elections " Abdul Abilov was arrested November 22, 2013 on charges of drug trafficking on a large scale .

The blogger Omar Mamedov was arrested in January 2014 on the same charges .

He was one of the administrators of Facebook pages on "Selections from AzTV ", which poked fun at the authorities .

The total number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, according to the Institute of Peace and Democracy, the Society of Legal Protection and Education, and the International Society of Legal Studies, exceeds 130 people. -06B-