The Azerbaijani President, Heydar Aliyev, is reported to have ordered the release of eighty prisoners in an amnesty.

The Russian news agency Interfax said they included six people convicted of involvement in attempted coups in 1994 and 1995.

The jail terms of another twenty-five prisoners involved in the coups are to be halved.

Others released under the amnesty include a number of disabled and seriously ill prisoners, and some jailed for desertion and draft-dodging.

Mr Aliyev had promised there'd be a prisoner amnesty before the end of the year whilst campaigning for the Presidential elections in October