Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Citizen of the Russian Federation Ruslan Huseynov expressed gratitude to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the decree on pardon signed May 24.
"I am a citizen of Russia, my family also lives in Russia, I have three children. I want to thank President Ilham Aliyev for the pardon, which was a happy event in my life," Huseynov, who was convicted by the Ganja Court of Grave Crimes in 2015, told reporters May 25.
He said he had spent three and a half years in prison.
Today, the execution of the decree of President Ilham Aliyev pardoning a number of convicts, signed on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, has been started.
On May 24, President Aliyev signed the decree pardoning 634 people.
Under the presidential order, 607 convicts are released from the unserved part of their prison sentences.
The order also releases one convict facing a deferred sentence and nine people serving conditional sentences.
Also under the order, six persons were freed from the remainder of their correctional labor and 11 persons were freed from fines.
Among the pardoned, there are 39 foreign citizens, including 11 citizens of Georgia, five citizens of China, four citizens of Russia and Iran, three citizens of Turkey and Bangladesh, two citizens of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, citizens of Uzbekistan, Cameroon, India, Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as three stateless persons.
The presidential order reads that the decision on pardon was made in connection with the fact that the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is a significant event in the history of the independence of the Azerbaijani people, the fact that national leader Heydar Aliyev attached special importance to universal values, the rule of law, the ideals of justice and democracy in the construction of the modern Azerbaijani state, as well as in connection with the commitment of Heydar Aliyev’s policy to the traditions of humanism, and with the belief that those pardoned will carry out activities on the path of the development of the independent state by integrating into society.