MANY of your readers will have been amongst the 725 signers of seasonal messages of hope to prisoners of conscience sent through the Saffron Walden Amnesty International Group. The second most widely chosen beneficiaries were three Azerbaijani youth who,

MANY of your readers will have been amongst the 725 signers of seasonal messages of hope to prisoners of conscience sent through the Saffron Walden Amnesty International Group. The second most widely chosen beneficiaries were three Azerbaijani youth who, nearly three years ago, were, in an unfair trial, convicted of the murder of a local boy. In Amnesty's view, this was a racial discrimination case, the boys were ethnic Russians.

Despite having failed in the Court of Appeal, we are happy to learn that the lads have now appeared before the Azerbaijani Supreme Court, who found there was insufficient evidence for a conviction.

We shall be back in the Market Place and hopefully in the secondary schools and Anglican churches in December with more victims and more messages of hope and look forward to the support of many more of your readers.

Francis Deutsch, Chairman of Saffron Walden Amnesty International Group