Prison terms for anti-Armenian protesters “too harsh”: Azeri president
Agence France Presse — English
September 2, 2004 Thursday
NAKHCHEVAN, Azerbaijan Sept 2 — Prison sentences handed down by a
court in Azerbaijan to a group of hardline anti-Armenian protesters
are too harsh, Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev said Thursday.
“As president I cannot interfere in the decision of the court but as
a citizen I believe that the punishment is not appropriate to their
crime,” Aliyev told reporters.
“It is a very harsh punishment and I, as a citizen, cannot support it,”
he said on a visit to the province of Nakhchevan in western Azerbaijan.
Aliyev added that he hoped the prison sentences would be overturned
on appeal.
Earlier this week, six protesters were sentenced to between three
and five years in jail for trying to storm a NATO conference in
Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.
The protesters had been demonstrating about the presence at the NATO
meeting of two officers from Armenia’s armed forces.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the early 1990s over the
disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict displaced a
million civilians and left some 35,000 people dead.
The protesters’ case has become a cause celebre in Azerbaijan,
where the war, which ended with the Azeri side forfeiting control
over Nagorno-Karabakh, still rankles with many people.
There is growing public support for a renewal of hostilities to drive
Armenian forces out of Nagorno-Karabakh.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress