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
-
Under the agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union on the readmission of persons residing without permission, 37 Azerbaijani citizens were returned from Germany on November 26.
-
Six people died on the evening of November 27 as a result of a collision between two cars on a section of the Baku-Gazakh highway passing through the Tovuz region.
-
Official Baku has condemned the visit of Polish President Andrzej Duda to the Azerbaijan-Armenia border during his official visit to Armenia. "The visit of Polish President Andrzej Duda to the to Armenia-Azerbaijan border area in the company of members of the EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA), unfortunately, is another demonstration of anti-Azerbaijani policy of different EU member countries and European institutions. We deeply regret that President of the country which is officially a “strategic partner” of Azerbaijan has participated in the unacceptable diplomatic “binocular show” leading to the aggravation of relations between Azerbaijan and Poland,”" reads the statement on the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ account on X (formerly Twitter).
-
According to the “Times of India”, the first batch of “Pinaka” missile systems has been delivered to Armenia.
Leave a review