Pro-government deputies do not recognize the problem of political prisoners

Baku/04.09.19/Turan: The Union "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" and the Working Group on Compiling a Single List of Political Prisoners over the past few days have published updated lists of political prisoners, which include 117 and 119 names respectively. However, according to human rights activist Novella Jafaroglu, the number of political prisoners in the country is no more than 32.

"The numbers are too bloated. I believe that such lists hinder the release of true political prisoners. A number of organizations are put on anybody"s lists," said Jafaroglu, a member of the Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations.

Deputy Faraj Guliyev, noting that he did not get acquainted with the published lists, nevertheless, questioned their authenticity.

"There are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan, no one has been arrested for political reasons. You cannot declare any politician or journalist a political prisoner immediately after arrest. Sometimes, those arrested for corruption are also included in the list of political prisoners. This is not normal," said Guliyev, who himself was a political prisoner in the past.

Musa Guliyev, a deputy from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, also denies the presence of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Punishments are imposed for criminal acts.

In turn, one of the compilers of the list of political prisoners, Eldaniz Guliyev, is convinced that the problem of political prisoners is recognized or not recognized by the authorities, this is an indisputable fact. "Our list is not overblown, on the contrary, it could be expanded further," Guliyev said.

He pointed out that the March pardon did not solve the problem of political prisoners. A vicious practice has developed in the country when new political prisoners are imprisoned instead of those released. In particular, this confirmed the "Ganja affair", burying hopes for a solution to the problem of political prisoners. - 30D--