Summary: March 30, 2005: Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the presidential pardon for political prisoners in Azerbaijan (Brussels)
The European Union welcomes the decree signed on 20 March 2005 by President Aliev of Azerbaijan pardoning 115 prisoners, 53 of whom were designated "political prisoners" by Council of Europe experts. The European Union welcomes the fact that the political leaders imprisoned following the events of October 2003 have been freed.
Azerbaijan has thus taken a further step towards meeting its obligations to the Council of Europe.
However, the EU remains concerned about the situation of those political prisoners still in custody, and calls on the Azeri government to release them without delay and to fulfil its undertakings to the Council of Europe and the OSCE.
"The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Country Croatia[1], the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration."
[1] Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
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