On October 7, the “Freedom for Azerbaijani Political Prisoners” Union released a new report on political prisoners in the country. According to the document, there are currently 392 political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The report classifies the prisoners into 12 categories, including 31 journalists and bloggers, 7 human rights defenders, 39 civic and political activists, 5 representatives of national minorities, 2 anti-war activists, 5 deported political exiles, 249 religious believers, and 12 serving life sentences.

In addition, the list includes 2 people in connection with the “Söyüdlü case,” 19 with the “İmişli case,” 8 with the “Tərtər case,” and 13 with the “Ganja case.”

The list was compiled by human rights defenders Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and Elşən Həsənov, head of the Public Association “Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners.” They applied the definition of “political prisoner” based on the criteria set by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

International human rights organizations continue to call on the Azerbaijani authorities to release all political prisoners. The Azerbaijani government, however, denies the existence of political prisoners, dismissing both domestic and international claims as unfounded.