Azerbaijan is outsider on the execution of ECHR judgments, expert

Baku/05.04.21/Turan: Azerbaijan ranks last among the countries of the Council of Europe in implementing the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. This was stated by lawyer Khalid Agaliyev in an interview with the "Difficult Question" program of the Turan agency.

“According to the data of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 287 cases in Azerbaijan are at the stage of execution. At the same time, only 43 have been fulfilled and not all have been completed,” Agaliyev said.

However, in recent years there have been some positive moments in this direction. Thus, based on the decisions of the ECHR, the plenum of the country's Supreme Court fully rehabilitated the leader of the REAL party Ilgar Mammadov and the head of the Baku Human Rights Club Rasul Jafarov. However, for others, such decisions are still pending. The issue of decriminalization of defamation in Azerbaijan has not been resolved.

In 80 cases on Azerbaijan, the ECHR recognized the violation of the rights of Azerbaijani citizens to free elections and freedom of association. The authorities also have a selective approach to the issue of compensation payments based on the decisions of the Strasbourg court. In some cases, the government has delayed payments, and most often, it concerns complainants who are critics of the government.

Since 2006, the ECHR has accepted 300 cases on Azerbaijan, obliging the government to pay compensation in the amount of 5 million euros.

Hopes for reforming the judicial and legal system after the adoption in 2019 of a number of decrees and other regulations did not materialize.

Agaliyev believes that in order to improve its position, Azerbaijan must ensure the independence of the judiciary. In addition, there should be civilian oversight of the judiciary and monitoring of trials, as well as public debate on these issues.-05B06-