Minister: Amnesty expected to cover almost 15,000 inmates

"Ahead of the first anniversary of the Victory [in the second Karabakh war], the Milli Majlis, on the initiative of the president, adopted a resolution `On the declaration of amnesty on the occasion of November 8 - Victory Day’, which increased the joy of our people. This act of amnesty, adopted as a continuation of the humane policy, the foundation of which was laid in our country by the national leader, in terms of the scope of application differs from all other similar acts. Thus, it applies to cases that are both at the stage of investigation and in court. Along with this, it is expected to be applied by the justice authorities, including the penitentiary and probation services, amnesty to almost 15,000 inmates," Justice Minister of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the Judicial-Legal Council, State Counselor of Justice of the 1st degree, Fikrat Mammadov, said in his article published by AZERTAC, Report informs.

“In order to ensure the orderly and precise implementation of the act of amnesty, the Justice Ministry immediately signed a corresponding order, organized daily control over its implementation, created a monitoring group to promptly consider appeals on this matter, and took other concrete measures.

“As a result, the ministry started applying the amnesty from the very first day. To date, the amnesty has covered about 1,300 people. In order to inform the public of the humane essence of the act of amnesty, a `round table’ was held with the participation of senior officials of the ministry. The media and Internet resources have published about 300 reports about the statements made at the event, which aroused great public interest.

“In general, within the framework of measures to humanize the policy of punishment in our country in recent years, at the initiative of the president, important changes have been made to the criminal legislation, many acts have been decriminalized, punishments that are alternative to imprisonment have been established, some punishments have been mitigated, a new punishment has been established - restriction of freedom.

“As a result of these changes, 2,200 convicts were completely released from punishment, and 3,500 convicts had their terms in prison reduced. Immediately after the outbreak of the pandemic last year, the overwhelming majority of convicts over 65 at risk were pardoned by the Azerbaijani president. At the same time, the measure of restraint in the form of arrest was changed with respect to 1,500 accused. The decree on pardon, signed this year ahead of Novruz holiday, being distinguished by the breadth of its coverage, embraced 650 inmates," Fikrat Mammadov said.