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The release of two prisoners of conscience is a positive move, but with 20 others behind bars, it is little more than a tokenistic gesture to appease critics in the run up to the European Games, human rights organization Amnesty International said.

It is mentioned in the statement that Bashir Suleymanli and Orkhan Eyyubzade, both outspoken critics of President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani political regime, have been released as part of the presidential pardon.

“This is heartening news, but what about other prisoners who are still behind bars in Azerbaijan for no real crime but criticising the regime? The Azeri authorities give with one hand and take with the other,” Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia team, said pointing out to the recent imprisonment of the brother of an outspoken political opposition leader for six years on trumped up charges by the Azerbaijani court.

If the Azerbaijani regime is really serious about human rights, it will release all the prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally. Arrests of critics of the government on politically motivated charges must stop, Krivosheev stressed.

It is noted in the article that Bashir Suleymanli, head of the Elections Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS), a prominent election watchdog, was arrested on 17 December 2013, shortly after the organization issued reports documenting widespread electoral violations during the 2013 Presidential Elections. He was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment on charges of “illegal enterprise,” tax evasion and “abuse of authority with grave consequences or the intent to influence elections.”

Orkhan Eyyubzade is a 19-year-old member of the Musavat opposition party and a member of the pro- democracy youth movement NIDA. He was detained on 6 May 2014 for taking part in a peaceful protest against the criminal conviction of eight NIDA activists. During his 20-day administrative detention he was beaten; yet there has been no effective investigation into these allegations. Moreover, on the day he was due to be released the Azerbaijani authorities accused him of attacking and injuring a policeman and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment.

“Bashir and Orkan’s release is not enough. They were imprisoned purely for political reasons, and their convictions should be immediately quashed. They have not committed any crimes and should not have a criminal record hanging around their necks,” said Denis Krivosheev. Amnesty International is also calling for an effective investigation of Orkhan Eyyubzade’s allegations of beatings, as well as all other recorded allegations of ill-treatment and torture.

Turning to the topic, Reuters writes that analysts say Aliyev has included some political prisoners in amnesties in recent years to smooth down Western criticism over the human rights record in Azerbaijan. Igbal Agazade, head of an opposition Umid party, told Reuters that they expected more political prisoners to be released.

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