Georgia, Tbilisi/ Trend , corr. N. Kirtskhalia/ The Department for Execution of Punishment of the Georgian Justice Ministry is ready to return to Azerbaijan, those prisoners who are permitted to be extradited to their homeland and holding Azerbaijani citizenships, by the Georgian legislation.
To date, according to the Department for Execution of Punishment, the Georgian party is handing over 15 convicts to Azerbaijan. The documents for 8 Azerbaijani citizens have already been prepared, however two of them have repudiated to return to their homeland to continue serving their sentence. "Regarding the other convicts, Azerbaijan has made an enquiry to the Georgian party to extradite them to Azerbaijan. The Georgian party is now awaiting a response from the Azerbaijani party as to where the convicts are to be sent and the conditions of them being held in their homeland," a source in the Department said. The source also added that it would take approximately two weeks, therefore the parties could come to an agreement that returning the convicts separately would be inexpedient, and that this should be carried out once the plight of the other convicts become evident.
Meanwhile, according to the Azerbaijan Justice Ministry, over 100 Azerbaijani citizens are presently serving their sentence in Georgian prisons, with 40 recently appealing to the Azerbaijan's Ombudswoman, Elmira Suleymanova, with a request to assist in transferring them to Azerbaijani prisons.