Azerbaijan adopts amnesty act, local human rights defenders disappointed that political prisoners not covered by amnesty

Today, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan has adopted the act of amnesty, which is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the late President Geidar Aliev. According to the authorities' data, the amnesty will affect 9000 persons, of whom, 2000 persons will be exempted from further serving their prison sentences. Representatives of the civil society of Azerbaijan question the validity of those numbers and expressed their disappointment with the fact that the amnesty did not affect political prisoners and "prisoners of conscience".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the initiative on adopting the act of amnesty came from Mekhriban Alieva, the spouse of President Ilham Aliev, the member of the National Assembly and the head of the Geidar Aliev Foundation. She has offered to dedicate the amnesty to the 90th anniversary of the birth of Geidar Aliev, the third president of Azerbaijan, to be celebrated on May 10.

Today, the act of amnesty was adopted by the Parliament unanimously.

According to the act of amnesty, exemption from punishment will be granted to women who had not committed crimes representing great threat to society and women sentenced for committing less serious crimes; persons who committed crimes prior to reaching the age of 18 years old; Category I and II invalids; men who have reached the age of 60 years old; persons who take care of minor children and Category I or II invalid children; persons who participated in the battles for the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan; persons forcibly relocated from their homes as a result of the Karabakh conflict.

Besides, the amnesty will be extended to persons sentenced to prohibition on occupying certain positions for the specified time periods; fines for the amount not exceeding 2000 manats (about 2500 US dollars); correctional labour and public works. Freedom will be also granted to military men who are serving their sentences in institutions of settlement colonies and who have less than one year to serve; persons who were sentenced to disciplinary punishment in military units and who also have less than one year to serve.

The act of amnesty is to be executed within four months from the date of its adoption.

Representatives of the advocates of Azerbaijan, oppositionists and local human rights defenders express their disappointment with the amnesty scope and the fact that it does not affect political prisoners and "prisoners of conscience".

Advocate Djavad Djavadly said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the current amnesty, like the amnesties of 2007 and 2009, became a regressive act even in comparison with amnesties of recent years.

"In particular, their biggest disadvantage is that three recent amnesties affected only persons in respect of whom final verdicts came into force. Thus, such amnesties do not affect persons under investigation and persons who had already appeared in court. And this is a great violation of the principle of justice," Djavad Djavadly said.

"Although the amnesty scope includes Article 234.1 (illegal purchase or storage without a purpose of selling of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances in quantities exceeding those necessary for personal consumption) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, under which many of the political and religious activists were sentenced; however, a remark in the document deprives them of the right to be released," the advocate emphasizes.

For example, he points out that, in accordance with a special remark in the act, the amnesty affects persons who were sentenced under Article 234.1, who take care of minor children and who are internally displaced persons, etc. "Accordingly, the amnesty affects only one of the religious activists sentenced under that Article Mekhti Shamilli. He has less than one year to serve till the completion of his sentence (Mekhti Shamilli was arrested on August 6, 2012, and on January 24, 2013, he was sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment, note of the "Caucasian Knot"). Besides, he takes care of two minor children," advocate Djavad Djavadly has emphasized.

At the same time, he continued, the amnesty is not applied to Article 228.1 (illegal purchase, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of firearms, component parts, ammunition, explosive substances or explosive devices), Article 233 (organization of actions promoting disturbance of public order or active participation in such actions), and Article 315 (resistance or violence against a power representative) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Advocate Akif Alizade also criticizes the fact that the amnesty does not affect political prisoners. In his opinion, persons sentenced for official misconduct will most benefit from the amnesty, that is, the amnesty will mainly affect the former officials.