26 Dec 2012 21:55

Azerbaijani president pardons almost 90 convicts, 2 prisoners of consciousness

BAKU. Dec 26 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday signed an order pardoning a group of convicts, the official media report.

The order freed 79 people of serving the rest of their prison term. Four people sentenced to corrective works were also freed from the remaining term and four more were exempted from the payment of fines.

Human rights activists say there are two of their colleagues on the list recognized as prisoners of consciousness by international organizations, also one journalist, and several opposition figures whose release was demanded by PACE claiming that there had been political motives for their criminal prosecution.