Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 April / Trend corr. K.Ramazanova / The Azerbaijani Government will not make any decision to pardon the imprisoned journalists despite pressure from international organizations.
"We will not pardon journalists because of pressure received from international organizations. However, we may pardon the journalists only through the request of the Council of Press and journalist organizations of Azerbaijan. Should that be the case, we hope that the journalists will learn from their mistakes," Ali Hasanov, chief of sociopolitical department of President's office, stated on 7 April.
The three detained journalists held in Azerbaijan are Ganimat Zahid, chief editor of Azadlig newspaper, Mirza Sakit, a journalist of Azadlig newspaper, and Eynulla Fatullayev, chief editor of Gundalik Azerbaijan and Realni Azerbaijan newspapers.
Hasanov described the hunger strike actions as ungrounded and stated that the state of the press in the country does not correspond to what has been reported by the journalists. "We oppose the hunger strike by journalists in order to achieve their aim," Hasanov stated.
On 26 March, the imprisoned Fatullayev went on a hunger strike. The editor-in-chief has made a demand for objective consideration of his case, release of the arrested journalists and for concrete protection measure to be applied by the Council of Europe and OSCE.
The chief editor of Gundelik Azerbaijan newspaper, Shahvalad Chobanoglu, editor-in-chief of Yeni Musavat newspaper, Zahid Safaroglu and journalist of the newspaper, Elshan Balakhanli, have been on a hunger strike for the last five consecutive days in support of the editor-in-chief of Gundalik Azerbaijan and Realniy Azerbaijan newspaper, Eynulla Fatullayev.
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