President pardons 89, including alleged political prisoners

President Aliyev issued Wednesday a decree to pardon some of the inmates, including those dubbed as political prisoners by the Council of Europe.

In reverence to human rights and freedoms and governed by the principles of humanism, the President pardoned 89 prisoners, the Presidential Press Service said.

The move came after considering the cases of the convicted on their families' plea viewing crime conditions, the level of their threat to the public, their repenting, health conditions, family circumstances, conduct and assurance that they will always observe law. 81 convicts were remitted, while the imprisonment terms of 8 others were halved. Among the freed are 4 women and 4 juvenile delinquents. 75 inmates were convicted for crimes against the independence, statehood and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. 14 of them were involved in a coup attempt in October 1994, while 53 are former special interior troopers and civilians enmeshed in a 1995 March attempt to forcibly take over power, who organized assaults on state bodies in Baku, Gazakh and Agstafa. 3 were arrested for an attempt on President Aliyev's life on September 30 1993, when he was acting speaker of the Azerbaijan parliament and 5 were individuals incarcerated for involvement in illegal armed groupings in October of 1993 and August of 1994 in Nakhchivan.Also released were convicts labeled as political prisoners and urged by the CE to be freed, including PFPA activists Faraj Guliyev and Asif Guliyev, former head of the Ministry for National Security Nariman Imranov, who is believed to have had a hand in a coup plot and others.