Novruz without amnesty

Baku/22.03.22/Turan: We can say that every year on the eve of the Novruz holiday in Azerbaijan, a pardon order is signed. This year on Novruz Bayram there was no presidential decree on pardon. The Amnesty Act adopted last year only applied to two persons who were considered political prisoners.

According to the lists compiled by local human rights activists, there are currently more than 100 political prisoners in the country. There are 126 people on the list of the Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan, and 112 people on the list of the working group on compiling a single list of political prisoners.

Alimamed Nuriyev, a member of the Pardon Commission under the President of Azerbaijan, told Turan that there have been 67 pardon orders so far. “As a result of these orders, up to 9,000 people were released. Since 2003 to the present, President Ilham Aliyev has signed 37 pardon decrees and released up to 5,000 people from punishment. Last year, a pardon decree was also signed, and a large number of people were pardoned.”

In his opinion, the absence of a pardon decree on the eve of the Novruz holiday this year may be due to the adoption of an amnesty act on November 5 last year. "The act of amnesty was executed within 4 months, and only on March 5 its execution was completed. This act of amnesty covered almost 17 thousand people."

The member of the commission noted that human rights activists draw up various lists, and many human rights activists turn to the head of state with a request to pardon certain individuals. “And these issues are always taken seriously. The persons named by these human rights activists in the past years have been released from punishment.”

However, according to Nuriyev, there is no concept of a political prisoner for the Pardon Commission. "The pardon commission should treat everyone in the manner prescribed by law, without making any distinctions. The pardon commission always approaches the issue objectively and, based on the principles of humanism, mercy, respect for human rights and freedoms, presents its opinion on a particular appeal to the President. Mr. President is already making a decision on the release of these persons."

He noted that there are certain appeals from human rights activists, deputies, the Ombudsman. “These appeals are being studied, processed, and as soon as the meetings of the Pardon Commission begin, they will be considered. And the decision is a matter related to the competence of Mr. President.”

The head of the Civil Rights Institute, Bashir Suleymanli, said that in 2020, when the government began the process of dialogue with political parties and civil society, the issue of a one-time solution to the problem of political prisoners was on the agenda. "Real Party and civil society representatives participating in the dialogue said that this issue should be resolved once and for all, and the persecution and arrest of people for their political views should be eliminated once and for all. The government said that work on this issue goes, and, most likely, it will be resolved.

However, according to the human rights activist, there has been no progress on this issue. "The solution to this problem has reached a dead end. Very few political prisoners were released as a result of the amnesty announced last year. In connection with the issuance of the amnesty act, the pardon order was not signed either on New Year's Day or on Novruz Bayram."

Bashirli believes that the issue of political prisoners hangs over Azerbaijan like a sword of Damocles, and in reports published by international organizations, Azerbaijan is always blacklisted according to the index of political freedoms. “This is undesirable and bad in terms of the country's image, international relations, lobbying. Even based on this context, reports are being circulated against Azerbaijan, sometimes with a bit of bias, and sometimes with the truth.”—0—