OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) and the Chairperson of the OSCE PA Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today welcomed the release of 148 individuals serving jail terms in Azerbaijan following a pardon decree issued by President Ilham Aliyev.
The group includes human rights defenders, activists, journalists and members of political parties.
“I welcome this ethical decision by President Aliyev to release such a wide range of people. This is a decision that the international community, including the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, has long hoped for and long urged. We will continue to encourage Azerbaijan to fulfill its OSCE commitments and I look forward to future constructive dialogue and progress,” President Kanerva said.
“I am happy to finally have the opportunity to welcome a positive step for human rights in Azerbaijan. Today’s release includes a number of prisoners of conscience, including Rasul Jafarov and Anar Mammadli, whose cases I have repeatedly raised with my Azerbaijani counterparts. I hope all of them will once again be able to contribute to dialogue in the country. I also hope this is a sign of willingness to strengthen the rule of law in Azerbaijan and that there will soon be no individuals behind bars or restricted in their movement due to their reporting, political affiliations, activism or views,” Chairperson Santos said. -02D-
Politics
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will hold talks in Moscow on January 17 and make statements for the press, according to the Kremlin's press service.
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On January 13, the trial in the case of public activist Nijat Ibrahim continued in the Baku Serious Crimes Court under the chairmanship of Judge Aygun Gurbanova. The trial was suspended after Ibrahim, in protest against the illegal arrest, began banging his head against the "aquarium cage", trying to commit suicide. At the beginning of the trial, he stated that he had been illegally detained for 4 months, and because of this, his family in Moldova was in a difficult situation, Turan announced this on its Twitter.
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The International Committee of Concerned Scholars (ICS) has appealed to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, requesting his assistance in securing the release of the arrested researcher, Igbal Abilov. The ICS expressed concern that Abilov's arrest "may be related to his research on ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan, conducted in collaboration with scholars from Armenia."
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Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maka Botchorishvili, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Georgia, Faig Guliyev.
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