 Shahin Novruzlu and Bakhtiyar Guliyev were pardoned and released on 17 October 2014, while the later defected to the government right after his release.The next pardon came on 30 December 2014 when two more activists Uzeyir Mammadli and Zaur Gurbanli were released.The rest of the activists, Rashadat Akhundov, Rashad Hasanov, Mammad Azizov and Omar Mammadov were pardoned and released on 17 March 2016 ahead of Ilham Aliyev's Washington visit for the Nuclear Security Summit.