In Azerbaijan, list of political prisoners expanded up to 93 people

In Azerbaijan, 93 political prisoners are still kept in custody. This was reported by the working group for drawing up a single list of political prisoners. Members of the working group activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and advocates have called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release all political prisoners.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 8, 2015, in Azerbaijan, a list of political prisoners was released, which included 80 people.

On December 23, the working group on preparation of a single list of political prisoners, which included members of NGOs, journalists and advocates, distributed an updated list of the citizens of Azerbaijan, recognized as political prisoners in the country, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The list of political prisoners includes 93 names.

The members of the working group have emphasized that the list excluded three names of persons released from prison, including human rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband, political analyst Arif Yunus.

Meanwhile, in the period from May 2015 till present, 16 people were arrested. According to the authors of the list of political prisoners, they are recognized as political prisoners on the basis of criteria defined in the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) No. 1900 of October 3, 2012.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.