Baku/07.07.20/Turan: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today signed an order to pardon a group of people. In the preamble of the document is noted that the head of state took this step in connection with the spread of coronavirus infection and taking into account appeals sentenced over the age of 65, requiring special care for health reasons and their family members, and based on the principles of humanism. In total, 176 people were pardoned and exempted from serving the remainder of the prison sentence.
Among them, one of the odious MNS General Akif Chovdarov, who was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 12 years in prison, including on charges of criminal offenses. Another former MNS general, Subahir Gurbanov, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, was also pardoned.
There are only two political prisoners among the pardoned. In particular, one of the leaders of the Islamic Party, Faramiz Abbasov, who was sentenced in 2011 to 11 years in prison, was pardoned. Another pardoned political prisoner was also the Islamist Binyadov Eldar convicted of Nardaran events.
According to various lists of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan, from 110 to 140 political prisoners are currently being held in prisons. —06D-
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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