Azerbaijan parliament approves amnesty draft in first reading

Azerbaijan’s parliament has approved in a first reading a draft decision to declare an amnesty in connection with the “Year of the Constitution and Sovereignty,” submitted by President Ilham Aliyev.

Under the proposal, the amnesty would apply to individuals who took part in combat operations to defend Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the 2020 war and the anti-terrorism operation carried out on September 19–20, 2023. It would also cover relatives of those killed or missing, people disabled as a result of military provocations, women, people aged 60 and over, individuals who were minors at the time of committing a crime, and other categories.

According to projections, the amnesty could apply to more than 20,000 people. This includes the release of over 5,000 inmates from prison sentences, sentence reductions for more than 3,000 convicts, освобождение more than 7,000 individuals from restrictions on liberty, around 4,000 from other types of punishment, and exemption of more than 1,000 people from criminal liability.

Gulnar Nazimgizi