02 November 2004, 23:59
Convicted opposition leaders may be pardoned soon
It is possible that President Ilkham Aliyev will sign a decree granting a pardon to seven convicted opposition leaders who were charged with organizing and participating in riots in Baku on October 15-16, 2003, a source in the Azerbaijan presidential administration told the Caucasian Knot correspondent.
Commenting on this report, human rights activist Leyla Yunus said that "recently the Azerbaijan authorities have faced pressure from international organizations, which demand that the opposition leaders should be released, and evidently this circumstance prompted them to make such a decision. The authorities can justify their actions in the eyes of international organizations no longer, and they'll most likely pardon them so that to ease the tension somehow," Ms Yunus resumed.
Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot
