ECHR Acknowledges Violations of Rights of Well-Known Human Rights Defenders in Azerbaijan

Strasbourg / 19.04.18 / Turan: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today announced two decisions on Azerbaijan, the lawyer Fariz Namazli told Turan.

One of them is connected with the refusal to admit the lawyers Annaghi Hajibeyli and Intigam Aliyev to the Bar Association.

In particular, the European Court recognized the violation of the applicants' rights under articles 10 (freedom of expression), 6 (the right to a fair trial), and 34 (the right to individual petition) of the European Convention.

According to Namazli, the violation under Article 34 was recognized due to the fact that in August 2014, when Intigam Aliyev was arrested, the employees of the prosecutor's office withdrew documents from his office, pending before the ECHR.

The Strasbourg Court decided that each applicant should be paid an award of EUR 7,500 and another EUR 2,500 to reimburse the court expenses.

The second decision of the ECHR is connected with the unjustified arrest of the human rights activist Anar Mammadli in December 2013. The court found this unreasonable and found violation of his rights under articles 5 (the right to freedom) and 18 (restriction of rights for political purposes).

The ECHR decided that Mammadli should be paid compensation in the amount of 20,000 euros and another 2,500 to reimburse the court costs. -16D06-