Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Alizade / Thomas Hammerberg, the Council of Europe Commissar for Human Rights, took interests in the problems of prisoners whose death penalty was changed with life imprisonment. During his visit to Azerbaijan, the CE Commissar visited the Gobustan Prison of the Penitentiary Service of the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry.
Together with Elmira Suleymanova, the Azerbaijani Ombudsman, he reviewed the cells at the prison, got familiar with the maintenance conditions of persons convicted for life imprisonment and urgent imprisonment, studied their problems, and explained their rights.
The management of the Gobustan Prison informed Hammerberg that life prisoners demand replacement of life imprisonment with term imprisonment.
In 1998 Azerbaijan cancelled the death penalty and applied life imprisonment. During the cancellation of the death penalty, the number of prisoners sentenced to death penalty reached 125. At present, Azerbaijan has 87 life prisoners.