BAKU: PACE rapporteur welcomes presidential amnesty

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 13 2004

PACE rapporteur welcomes presidential amnesty

President Ilham Aliyev received Malcolm Bruce, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur on political
prisoners, on Tuesday.

Expressing his pleasure with the May 10 presidential decree to pardon
363 prisoners, Bruce appreciated President Ilham Aliyev’s meetings in
Strasbourg and his speech at the spring session of PACE on April 29.
Stressing that the democratization process in the country and the
latest amnesty act will help in the settling of the Upper Garabagh
conflict and the gaining of acceptance and support for Azerbaijan’s
standpoint towards the conflict, the PACE rapporteur said that
Azerbaijan was taking constructive steps in this respect.

Appreciating the discussion of different issues, including the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Upper Garabagh at the Council of
Europe (CE) over the past three years, President Aliyev said that the
conflict presented a serious threat to not only to Azerbaijan, but
also to the region. Stressing that his country will continue to
cooperate with the CE in the future, Aliyev said: “The constructive
cooperation testifies to our deserved partnership.” On the first day
of his visit, the PACE rapporteur visited some jails to meet with
those considered as political prisoners. Bruce will wrap up his Baku
visit on Wednesday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS