On 10 April, the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Stefan Schennach (Austria), Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom) and Sunna Evarsdottir (Iceland) welcomed the decree from President Ilham Aliyev pardoning 176 prisoners aged over 65 in need of special care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Trend. 

“This humanitarian measure addresses concerns expressed by the Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights with regard to the protection of human rights and health of people detained in prisons in Council of Europe member states in connection with the global coronavirus pandemic," they said.

“We note the release of two prisoners, convicted following the 2015 Nardaran events in unfair trials which raised the concerns of the international community, to which we referred in our previous report. We consider this to be a step in the right direction and now look for further progress to address all the outstanding cases,” the rapporteurs added.

However, the co-rapporteurs recalled the PACE Resolutions 2293 (2020) and 2184 (2017) and concluded that “discretionary presidential pardons are no substitute for an independent judiciary that prevents unjust and politically motivated detention in the first place” and called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release all political prisoners.

On 6 April, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to pardon 176 people over the age of 65 as a step to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Among them were two former Ministry of National Security employees and two persons who were regarded as political prisoners in the country (Caucasus Watch reported). On 27 March, the Azerbaijani government released 200 prisoners on an early leave in order to combat the spread of the virus and announced that it will continue the trend (Caucasus Watch reported).

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council of Europe called on all member states to safeguard the rights and health of all persons in prison during this period. It also said member states should urgently adopt and implement a humane and comprehensive crisis plan supported by adequate human and financial resources, and which caters to the needs of those who leave prisons, those who remain in detention and prison staff (Caucasus Watch reported).