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Rufatand RovshanZahidovs– imprisoned relatives of the Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Azadliq’s editor-in-chief, political emigrant GanimatZahid – have issued a statement for the media and Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs renouncing the journalist, news agency Turan reports.

According to the information, RovshanZahidov particularly requested to eliminate the information about his relationship to Azadliq’s editor-in-chief in his personal data. He also calls on the media to exclude his name from the list of the “prisoners of conscience.”

“My relatives and I approve and will further support the domestic and foreign politics carried out by presidentIlhamAliyev,”RovshanZahidov writes.

The journalist’s relative, RufatZahidov, also issued a similar statement.

Meanwhile, Rufat and RovshanZahidovs’ lawyer, BahruzBayramov, told the Caucasian Knot that he is not surprised by the statements and expressed confidence that soon his defendants would be released from jail.

“I have heard of the preparation of those statements. Last week, I was not allowed to see RufatZahidov obviously because I could somehow disturb them,” the lawyer said stating at the same time that it is reasonable to release those innocent people by all means.

Bayramovexplained his opinion by stating that without the opportunity to obtain justice in court, “these workers, whose families are left without earners, have no other alternative than accept the conditions imposed on them for their release.”

“Their case is in the Court of Appeal, which can mitigate the sentence and replace the real term with conditional sentence. Or the Court of Appeal can uphold the sentence, then they will be pardoned by the presidential order, which may be signed on the eve of the New Year,”this is how the lawyer predicts the development of the events.

GanimatZahid, who had earlier called on his relatives to renounce him in order not to face pressure because of his journalist activity, wrote on his Facebook page: “Who else is ready to renounce the enemies of our state and anti-revolutionary elements?”

In his turn, OktayGulaliyev – the head of the Public Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners – commenting on Rufat and RovshanZahidov’s statement, said that the Azerbaijani authorities take steps for the neutralization of the international criticism regarding the huge number of political prisoners in the country.

“Of course, the authorities deny the existence of political prisoners, however, they have to take measures in order to reduce their number. The convicts’ letters of repentance are an opportunity for them to ‘preserve their face’, and show that they do not yield to pressure. At first, they imprison innocent people, who became theiropposition relatives’ hostages, then they release them forcing them to renounce their relatives,”Gulaliyev said reminding that after similar public renunciations, the brother-in-law of the independent Meydan TV’s editor-in-chief EminMilli and two brothers of the editor GunelMovlud were released.

On June 28 2016, the cousin and nephew of Azadliq’seditor-in-chief were sentenced to six years of imprisonment on drug charges. The convicted linked the sentence to political emigrant GanimatZahid’s journalist activity, which he carried out outside Azerbaijan.

Rovshanand Rufat Zahidov swere declared political prisoners.

For the past year, the practice of renouncing their opposition relatives has spread among the Azerbaijani citizens because of the fear of the authorities’ pressure and “revenge.”

Earlier, in June 2015, in an appeal to Azerbaijan’s President IlhamAliyev, 23 relatives of the director of Meydan TV, EminMilli, declared they cut ties with him. EminMilli’s relatives’ desperate step may be connected with June 27 arrest of his wife’s brother, programmer NazimAgabekov, who was later “found to possess drugs.” This was perceived by many as a form of pressure on the oppositionist blogger.
In September 2015, the parents of RasulMursalov, former Azerbaijani political prisoner and emigrant, also renounced their son. MaarifMursalov, the father, sent an appeal about renouncing his son to the Presidential Administration, Prosecutor General’s Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of National Security and Ombudsman Office of Azerbaijan.

In October of the same year, the mother of the Azerbaijani columnist and editor of the online Meydan TV GunelMovlud also renounced her daughter following her sons’ politically motivated arrests.