Analysts voice doubts about Azerbaijani political prisoners' chances for pardoning

The authorities of Azerbaijan need political prisoners as a frightening factor to maintain the stability of the government, so a pardoning requested by human rights defendants from the Azerbaijani president is unlikely to affect many political prisoners. This opinion was voiced by analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Baku Human Rights Club appealed to the Azerbaijani authorities with a request to release 110 people sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, including to life imprisonment.

Emin Guseinov, the director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), has doubts concerning the release of political prisoners.

"Perhaps, a pardoning will be announced, and a group of political prisoners will be released. However, we should not expect a radical solution to the problem. The Azerbaijani authorities are consistently pursuing the practice of prosecuting citizens for political reasons. They treat the mentioned practice as one of the ways to intimidate society and maintain the stability of the regime. Moreover, the problem of political prisoners is always an opportunity to bargain with the West," Emin Guseinov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Namizad Safarov, the coordinator of the Centre against Repression and Torture, does not exclude the possibility that the pardoning will be timed to the spring holiday.

"In fact, the pardoning and the amnesty should have been announced immediately after the end of the hostilities. Such action would have been a step towards the consolidation of society, the restoration of the rights of those unlawfully and unjustly convicted. However, no pardoning or amnesty was announced, which indicates a lack of political will to end the persecution of critics of the regime. Perhaps the pardoning will be announced in March, but only a part of political prisoners will be released," Namizad Safarov suggests.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 17, 2021 at 07:02 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.