Ombudsman attended the Ceremony of Execution of the Pardon Order

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev, Sabina Aliyeva, the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, took part in the execution of the pardon order signed by President Ilham Aliyev.

The Ombudsman visited the Baku Pretrial Detention Facility of the Ministry of Justice Penitentiary Service, the Correctional Facility, and penitentiary institutions No. 4, 6, and 10 regarding the execution of the pardon order.

According to Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva, the fate of the statehood of Azerbaijan for over 30 years has been linked to the name of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. It was stressed that the protection of human rights and freedoms, including the punishment-execution policy based on humanism, was one of the top priorities of National Leader Heydar Aliyev's political course. The Great Leader Heydar Aliyev initiated the empowerment of the courts to choose detention as a punitive measure as a new approach, as well as the abolition of the death penalty for the first time in the East in 1998 among the republics of the former USSR, by imposing a moratorium on its implementation in 1993. The importance of pardon orders and amnesty acts signed in 1995–2003, during the ruling years of the National Leader, was especially underlined.

The Ombudsman, Ms. S. Aliyeva, said that Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the worthy follower of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the victorious Commander-in-Chief, continues the same political course in this field as in other domains. The pardon orders issued by the Head of State and the amnesty acts adopted on the initiative of Ms. Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Vice President and President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, are the successful continuation of the punishment-execution policy of the Great Leader.

S. Aliyeva presented the pardoned convicts, including juveniles and female inmates, with the release documents and congratulated them and their family members. She advised the pardoned persons to refrain from violations of the law, to cherish the example of humanity shown, and wished them success in their future lives.

The pardoned persons expressed their gratitude to the country’s President and the First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva for their humanitarian efforts in terms of human rights.

Staff in charge of the Ombudsman Office also participated in the ceremony of the execution of the pardon order held in the Probation Service of the Ministry of Justice, as well as in penal institutions.

It should be noted that according to the Decree, 801 convicts were released; 463 of them were pardoned from imprisonment; 220 from half of the unserved part of imprisonment; and 118 from other punishments not related to deprivation of liberty (restriction of liberty, correctional works, fines, and probationers, that is, persons who were subjected to a suspended sentence) were released. 59 of the pardoned persons were added to the corresponding list based on the petitions of the Ombudsman. In total, 864 people were pardoned while the Ombudsman was in operation.