Czech News Agency
March 2, 2005

SVOBODA ASKS MAMMADYAROV FOR HELP IN NAZAROV CASE

PRAGUE, March 2 (CTK) – Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda today asked
his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov to help settle the case
of Professor Sadai Nazarov, Richard Krpac from the Foreign Ministry
press department told CTK today.

Nazarov, originally from Azerbeijan, has asylum in the Czech Republic
and is now under Czech protection, but still he cannot return from
Azerbaijan.

Nazarov was arrested on January 20 when he visited his homeland where
he has been accused of treason.

“Azerbaijani authorities have accused him of six serious crimes,
which the Azerbaijani penal code punishes with life imprisonment,”
Nazarov’s son Elshan Nazarov told CTK on February 15.

Czech diplomacy is seeking Nazarov’s return to the Czech Republic,
the Czech Foreign Ministry said earlier.

Nazarov, 58, travelled to Azerbaijan though Czech authorities did not
recommend it to him. He wanted to see his ill father, and besides he
allegedly supposed that the situation in the country had improved.

He was an adviser to the former Azerbaijani premier Suret Huseynov.
In 1994, he left his homeland as the regime of president Ilham Aliyev
persecuted him. Three years later he was granted asylum in the Czech
Republic.

“Svoboda asked for help, taking into account his political asylum and
serious health problems,” Krpac said.

Svoboda and Mammadyarov met at the request of the Czech Republic.
They discussed bilateral questions and deepening of the two
countries’ relations.

Mammadyarov is on an unofficial visit to the Czech Republic.

His trip is mainly devised to attend the summit of the “Minsk Group,”
which is now being held in Prague. It consists of the USA, Russia and
France. With the mandate of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OBSE), it is trying to resolve the problem of
Nagorny Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan.

Nagorny Karabakh, predominantly inhabited by Armenians, is still
internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan and Armenia, too,
does not see it as its part. While Azerbaijan seeks its return,
Armenia demands its independence.