148 convicts amnestied in Azerbaijan this year

/By Azernews/

By Gunay Hasanova

As many as 148 convicts have been amnestied in Azerbaijan for the six months of this year, while documents of 277 convicts have been sent to the court. 

"The convicts were released from detention in a timely and precisely way based on a decree signed by the Head of the State on March 17, 2016," Deputy Chief of the Penitentiary Service of the Justice Colonel Ogtay Mammadov said at the expanded meeting regarding the results of service activities for the first half of 2016.

Speaking at the meeting, the Head of the Penitentiary Service, Major-General of Justice Jeyhun Hasanov stressed that the decision on amnesty of the Milli Mejlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan Republic initiated by the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, MP Mehriban Aliyeva covering 10,000 prisoners, including 3,500 to be released from the places deprivation of liberty, and affected 2,800 people in the correctional institutions of the prison service.

More than 2,500 people have been released from prisons so far, while the execution of the Amnesty Act still continues, he added.

Under the Act, all inmates incarcerated for crimes that do not pose serious public danger, women indicted for less serious offences, those who were aged under 18 when they committed a crime, disabled people, men who turned 60, those who have underage or first or second group disabled children under their charge, those who participated in the battles for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, those who were by force resettled from their native lands as a result of occupation.

"We continue to implement the law adopted on May 6, 2016 and work on adding new amendments to the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Moreover, the circle of the people covered by the Act has been identified, and documents of 277 prisoners serving sentences in prisons were sent to the court," Mammadov noted.

He also added that as a result of inspections in this period, 265 mobile phones were detected and seized from the prisoners. In addition, 159 grams of various kinds of drugs and psychotropic substances and 23 liters of fermented liquid used for manufacturing of alcoholic beverages were found too. These materials were submitted to the relevant law enforcement agencies for the legal assessment.

In turn, the interaction with other law enforcement agencies contributed to disclosing 265 different crimes, says Mammadov.

Individual heads of departments of the Prison Service and the heads of correctional institutions held presentations at the meeting as well.

The first bill regarding the amnesty issue has unanimously passed in the Parliament of Azerbaijan on the occasion of May 28 Republic Day, which was submitted by the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, MP Mehriban Aliyeva.