14 March 2021, 10:50
CoE calls on Azerbaijani authorities to fulfil ECtHR's decisions on activists
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) has urged Azerbaijani authorities to immediately enforce the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the "Ilgar Mamedov Group" – to cancel the current and remove earlier convictions.
The "Ilgar Mamedov Group" consists of critics of the government, activists and human rights defenders who, as the ECtHR has found, were persecuted by Azerbaijani authorities. On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan reviewed Ilgar Mamedov's and Rasul Djafarov's cases and acquitted them.
The CoE's resolution has mentioned the following members of the group: Anar Mamedli, Intigam Aliev, Khadija Ismayilova, the activists of the "Nida" movement Zaur Gurbanli, Rashad Gasanov, Rashadat Akhundov, Uzeir Mamedli, Bairam Mamedov and Giyas Ibragimov, and Natig Djafarli, a member of the political council of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party. The ECtHR has found in their relation violations of the Articles "Limits on the use of rights restrictions" and “Right to liberty and personal immunity" of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Committee of Ministers has recalled the decisions taken by the Azerbaijani SC in April 2020, to overturn the convictions of Ilgar Mamedov and Rasul Djafarov and to award them compensation for the suffered moral harm caused by their illegal arrest.
According to Anar Mamedli, although all the applicants have been released from prisons, their rights remain restricted. "Due to convictions, some applicants from our group could not run for the parliament at the last parliamentary elections, while Khadija Ismayilova and Intigam Aliev are still banned from leaving the country," Mr Mamedli has explained.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 13, 2021 at 12:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Faik Medjid Source: CK correspondent
