Human rights defenders called for wide pardon

Baku/15.02.21/Turan: The Baku Human Rights Club appealed to the head of Azerbaijan with a request to release a number of convicts.

Copies of the appeal were also sent to the chair of the presidential pardon commission, Samir Nuriyev, and to the members of the commission.

The appeal was prepared with consideration of the practice of signing presidential pardon orders on the eve of the Novruz holiday and legislative norms that allow NGOs to make petitions for clemency.

“During the war and after it, in your public speeches, you have repeatedly stressed that the victory in Karabakh was achieved thanks to national unity and solidarity. Unambiguously supporting this thesis, we believe that a wide pardon in the context of the Karabakh victory will further strengthen this unity, justify the positive expectations that have arisen,” the appeal says.

Human rights activists are asking for the release of 110 people. Among them are persons, charges against whom have not been confirmed in courts, and people sentenced to various terms and to life imprisonment.

* The Baku Human Rights Club was established last spring by human rights activist Rasul Jafarov and lawyer Javad Javadov.

According to Jafarov, the list of 110 persons included the persons involved in the "Ganja case" (arrested for the events of July 10, 2018); "Terter case" (2017); "Nardaran case" (2015); activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan; journalists; three "life sentences" convicted in the case of the OPON insurgency in 1995 and others.

There are also persons on the list who were not convicted on political charges. –06D-