Azeri opposition leaders say pressure group’s trial politically motivated
Turan news agency
30 Aug 04
BAKU
“The trial of Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) members has once
again demonstrated a lack of the independent judiciary in
Azerbaijan. Judges act like government officials and present political
orders as court rulings,” the leader of the Azarbaycan Milli Istiqlal
Party (AMIP), Etibar Mammadov, told Turan today commenting on the
Nasimi district [Baku] court’s ruling on KLO leaders.
According to him, the authorities are trying to foil all possible
protests and crush the population by reducing it to the level of
slavery.
Etibar Mammadov is sure that the KLO members were sentenced on orders
from the head of the presidential administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev,
therefore, the sentence pronounced by Judge Famil Nasibov runs counter
to national interests.
The leader of the Musavat Party, Isa Qambar, believes that the court
ruling is a clear demonstration of the authorities’ attitude towards
their own people, especially towards those who fought in Karabakh.
Isa Qambar said the decision should be repealed and the activists
should be freed as soon as possible.
The leader of the PFAP [People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party]
“reformers”, Ali Karimli, described the court ruling as “unfounded and
politically motivated”. The authorities’ harsh treatment of KLO
members is aimed to “crush” the people’s will and lay the foundation
for the signing of “defeatist peace accords” with Armenia, Karimli
believes.
In his opinion, the Azerbaijani public should protest against the
decision.
The chairman of the Justice Party, Ilyas Ismayilov, also condemned the
court ruling.
“KLO members should not have been arrested in the first place, because
there was nothing illegal in their actions. I am in favour of their
release from custody as soon as possible,” he said.