Human rights activists in Azerbaijan threaten to withdraw from Working Group on Political Prisoners

An incomplete list of pardoned journalists has brought about a statement of certain human rights activists on their withdrawal from the Working Group on Political Prisoners.

Human rights activist Novella Dzhafaoglu has stated in her talk with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that a regular meeting of the Working Group on Political Prisoners is scheduled for today. "If the authorities agree to release Einullah Fatullaev and Mirza Sakit, the human rights activists will remain in the Working Group, if not, we shall quit it. Hopefully, the common sense will win and the authorities are going to pardon the journalists," says N. Dzhafaoglu.

However, the human rights activist is convinced that the activity of the group is necessary. "Everything now depends on the authorities," she notes.

Notably, a number of human rights activists have withdrawn from the Working Group on Political Prisoners as a sign of protest against the absence of certain names in the list of political prisoners, submitted by the Council of Europe, from those pardoned by the president's decree. These are Chinghiz Ganizade, Arzu Abdullaeva, Saida Godzhamanly, Sahib Mamedov, Saadat Benianiarly and Novella Dzhafaoglu.

"The authorities have pardoned the political prisoners who have to serve a month or a couple of weeks, such as Etibara Gulieva and Pirali Orudzheva", says Leila Yunus, director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy. According to her, the fact that the authorities have failed to release all journalists and other political prisoners testifies to the strive of the authorities to throw dust in the eyes of the international community.