Azay Guliyev: “Some of the jailed journalists had not served a half of their imprisonment term”

“The Pardon Commission is working within its regulations and rules, which are not considering concessions for any professions. Therefore, there have been no journalists in the list submitted to the President for pardoning”, said Azay Guliyev, member of the Parliament and the Pardon Commission, APA reports.

He said some of the jailed journalists had not served a half of their imprisonment and for that reason their pardoning cannot be discussed yet.

A. Guliyev blamed some Human Rights activists for the speculation of pardon issue and said that the head of Peace and Democracy Institute Leyla Yunus had expressed groundless opinion on this issue.

“Conversely, these people prevent release of jailed journalists. If the issue of “political prisoner” is solved, the activity of Leyla Yunus and others like her will end at all. Therefore, these people are interested in keeping the issue on the agenda”.

The Member of the Parliament reminded the recent release of 5 journalists and did not rule out that pardon of other journalists could be discussed within legal framework in the future.

/APA/