Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

About 1,300 convicts have been set free so far under the amnesty act announced over Azerbaijan's Victory Day on November 8, Justice Minister Fikrat Mammadov has said.

In his article published on Azertag, Mammadov stressed that the latest amnesty act announced as a continuation of the humane policy, the basis of which was laid in Azerbaijan by national leader Heydar Aliyev, differs from all other similar amnesty acts in terms of the scope of application.

The act applies to cases that are both at the stage of investigation and in court. Along with this, the judicial authorities, including the Penitentiary Service and the Probation Service are expected to apply the amnesty act to about 15,000 people, he said.

The minister underlined that in order to ensure the orderly and accurate execution of the amnesty act by the Justice Ministry, a corresponding order was immediately signed, daily control over its implementation was organized, a monitoring group was created to promptly consider applications in this regard, and other specific measures were taken.

As a result, from the very first day, the ministry began to apply the amnesty act, and to date, the amnesty has covered about 1,300 people.

Mammadov added that a round table was also held on this topic with the participation of the ministry's relevant officials. The media published about 300 articles about this event, which aroused great public interest.

Parliament, guided by the Azerbaijani Constitution's paragraph 19 of Part I of Article 95, on the basis of President Ilham Aliyev's initiative, submitted for discussion the bill on the announcement of amnesty on the occasion of November 8 - Victory Day.

The bill on the declaration of amnesty over Victory Day was approved on November 5. It is expected that the amnesty will affect 17,000 convicts.

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