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Fuad Aleskerov: 1787 persons were freed from the restraint of liberty on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijanâ€™s independence- INTERVIEW

19 October 2011 08:28 (UTC +04:00)

-Various proposals are made concerning the adoption of the amnesty act. What can you say about it?

-Our country is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the state independence. A number of humane steps have been taken on the highest level on the occasion of this significant date. I would especially like to mention that on the initiative of Azerbaijanâ€™s President Ilham Aliyev important activities have been carried out towards the liberalization of the criminal legislation. The restraint of liberty has been excluded from the system of punishment. The unserved term of the persons sentenced to the restraint of liberty has been commuted to fine and correctional labor. The process of execution of the law envisaging these amendments was completed on the eve of the celebration of the restoration of independence. According to the calculations, 1787 persons have been freed from the restraint of liberty, the sentence of 1436 of them has been commuted to fine, the sentence of the rest to correctional labor.

We believe that the release of these persons on the eve of the celebration of the restoration of the independence of Azerbaijan Republic will have positive influence on the upbringing of our citizens in the spirit of respect for laws, these persons will return to the society and contribute to establishing the civil society.

As regards the amnesty, I would like to note that guided by the principles of humanism, the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev restored the pardon and amnesty institutions in 1995. Up to now 9 amnesty acts have been applied to 96 000 people, 5222 prisoners have been pardoned. The recent two amnesty acts were adopted on the initiative of President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, who is continuing the ideals of justice and humanism of our national leader. Investigation and generalization with regard to the pardon and amnesty acts are made constantly, collection of opinions and other documents concerning the persons, who have appealed for pardoning, is being continued.

- Why has the restraint of liberty been excluded from the legislation?

-First of all I would like to underline that these changes are a part of the reforms carried out in the penitentiary system. When the Criminal Code was being prepared in 1999, a number of new institutions were included into the Code in accordance with the legal theory. But the practice of the past years shows that sometimes the proposals considered optimal in the theory become ineffective in practice. Restraint of liberty can be considered one of these institutions. The reforms carried out in the penitentiary system aim at fundamental approach to the solution of the problem. The analysis of the criminal legislation in the European countries - France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain shows that the criminal sanctions envisage confinement and fines. The person, who committed a crime, is sentenced to confinement, if confinement is considered inexpedient, the person faces financial sanctions. The criminal legislation of these countries does not contain separate kinds of punishment similar to the restraint of liberty.