Siyavush Novruzov denies the presence of political prisoners, but offers to release them

Baku/20.02.18/Turan: Siyavush Novruzov believes that there are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, he stands for the release of persons who are called "political prisoners" in the West. "There have never been political prisoners in Azerbaijan. For political views and publications in the media no one is held accountable. There are people who have committed specific crimes. Party membership does not absolve them from punishment. Such people should be called not political prisoners, but politicized prisoners," Novruzov said in an interview with the Azerbaijani service of the Voice of America.

According to him, the problem of "political prisoners" is used in the West to exert pressure on Baku in order to achieve "favorable conditions" when developing the natural resources of Azerbaijan. At the same time, Novruzov proposes to release these persons. "To prevent this plague in Azerbaijan, to disarm the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, and the deputies, who are trained by the Armenian lobby, it is necessary to release all these people by one refusal," Novruzov said.

He is a supporter of the amnesty, which can be timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani People's Republic and the 95th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev. Under the amnesty, all persons who participated in military operations in defense of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, women who have reached the age of 60, women with young children, men over 70 years old can get access to the amnesty.

Novruzov also proposes to free believers who have fallen under the influence of radical religious movements. Asking the question whether it is possible to expect pardon and amnesty, Novruzov replied: "I can not definitely say anything. I do not accept decisions. The pardon is issued by the president, amnesty - parliament. We put forward only ideas, thoughts, initiatives. There is a legal mechanism for their implementation," he said. Amnesty in the case of implementation and the initiative, can be announced as early as May. Pardon by the same president can be carried out at any time, said the functionary of the ruling party. -03B06--