The amnesty in Azerbaijan affected less than a third of political prisoners.

Over 18,000 people in Azerbaijan have been released from further sentences under an amnesty. The amnesty only affected those political prisoners whose terms were already coming to an end, human rights activists noted.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the implementation of the amnesty law began in Azerbaijan on December 22, 2025. Authorities then announced that the amnesty would affect approximately 20,000 people and would take four months. By the end of the first month and a half, 15,119 people were covered by the amnesty.

The amnesty, which came into force in December 2025, had been applied to 18,203 people as of March 31, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice reported on April 3.

According to the ministry, 5,310 people were released from further prison sentences, and another 10,226 from non-custodial sentences. In addition, 2,648 convicted individuals had their prison terms reduced by six months.

Another 19 people, whose cases were under investigation, were released from criminal liability. Those amnestied include 20 participants in the 44-day Second Karabakh War, as well as 18 individuals who had reached the age of 60 at the time the act came into force.

Amnesty was granted to 17,292 men, including 86 minors, and 911 women, including one minor. The ministry specified that 1,309 of those amnestied were convicted of crimes that did not pose a major public danger, 15,996 for less serious crimes, and 898 for serious crimes.

The Ministry of Justice noted that the amnesty is ongoing. Implementation of the Amnesty Act must be completed within four months of the document's entry into force; the act was adopted by parliament on December 19, 2025, and entered into force on the same day, a source in the Azerbaijani parliamentary apparatus told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. However, the executions began only three days later, on December 22.

The amnesty has not resolved the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan; since December 22, only 122 people convicted of politically motivated crimes have been released, reported Arif Yunusov, head of the Conflict and Migration Department at the Institute for Peace and Democracy. "Of these, 96 are believers, and four were convicted in the Imishli case," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Yunusov explained that these 100 people were on the list of the "For Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" union, created by the Institute for Peace and Democracy and the Political Prisoners Monitoring Center. In addition, another 22 believers whose names were not on the human rights union's list have been released.

“This is due to the fact that information about the arrests of believers in the regions reaches us late or is extremely fragmented, and it is not always possible to fully clarify all the details and circumstances of the cases. It should also be noted that this amnesty only applied to those convicted who had only a few months left on their sentences. Some believers were expected to be released within a few weeks even without the amnesty. Incidentally, currently, in connection with the war against Iran, arrests of Shiite believers have begun again in Azerbaijan. Among those detained are even those released last December, in particular Samir Babayev. However, unfortunately, information about the arrests of believers in the regions remains limited and requires time to collect and clarify, so the compilation of a new list of political prisoners is delayed,” Yunusov said.

In total, less than one-third of the political prisoners on the human rights union's list were included in the amnesty. It did not apply to those sentenced to long terms. journalists, opposition politicians, human rights defenders, and religious activists, he added. Against this backdrop, courts continue to hand down new politically motivated sentences: three such verdicts have been issued in recent days alone, in the cases of opposition figure Tofig Yagublu, Popular Front Party activist Novruz Taghiyev, and Abzas Media journalists.

The Union for Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan published a new national list of political prisoners on January 15, including 340 names. The list was compiled by the union's co-coordinators, Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and Elshan Gasanov, Head of the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners.

A week before the amnesty began, on December 15, co-author of the list, Elshan Gasanov, expressed confidence that "the majority of political prisoners will remain in prison." "Political prisoners are typically imprisoned for serious offenses, and the amnesty will not extend to this category," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, commenting on the amnesty project.