33 Bosniacs against Azerbaijan

Baku / 07/25/17 / Turan: The European Court of Human Rights has begun to consider the suit of 33 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3 citizens of Turkey and 2 citizens of Georgia against Azerbaijan. This is reported on the court's website.

The Court's report discloses the content of these complaints. Sadullah Genc, ​​Tugrul Kiraz and Sam Samur, who filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan, were educated in Azerbaijan in 2012 at the Ganja State University. While visiting friends in Ganja, they were attacked by the police during the prayer. All the young people who prayed were taken to the police department. The citizens of Turkey, detained there for almost 20 hours, were accused of illegal religious propaganda. For this court fined each of them for 2,000 manat. Along with this, it was decided to deport the students from the country.

The Turkish students, protesting this decision, were able to achieve the cancellation of their deportation clause. But the decision on the penalty remained in force.

In their appeal to the European Court, they claim violation of their rights under Articles 5 (right to freedom and inviolability), 6 (right to a fair trial) and 9 (freedom of conscience and religion) of the European Convention and require appropriate compensation .

And the citizens of Georgia Vepkhvia Sheveli and Ekaterine Shengelaya claim that the state of Azerbaijan violated their rights to freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the European Convention. These Georgian citizens were participants in the meeting of the religious community Jehovah's Witnesses, held in Ganja in 2010.

Police conducted an operation in the apartment where the meeting was held. The plaintiffs were taken to the Ganja Police Department, where they were detained for more than 12 hours. After that the court ruled on their deportation from Azerbaijan. At the same time, as a justification, the violation of laws related to freedom of religion was mentioned.

However, the appeal of Georgian citizens who disagreed with the court decision to a higher court instance was rejected.

Thirty-three 33 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have brought suit against the state of Azerbaijan claim to have been the victims of deception. In their complaint, they say they worked in the construction of famous buildings in Baku, including Buta Saray, Bakı Expo Center, and 28 Mall.

The complaint also mentions the Ministry of Youth and Sports: some of these foreign plaintiffs claim they also worked in the construction of the Olympic Center Kur in Mingachevir, which is related to the ministry.

33 Bosniacs argue that when they were hired, an agreement was reached on hourly pay at a rate of $ 5-7 per hour, placing them in apartments with all the necessary conditions. However, they were paid only $ 3-4 per hour. And the living conditions were even more unbearable: the Bosnians, who had been deprived of their passports, were kept on rigid internal rules in barracks where up to one hundred people were accommodated, and there was neither a bath nor a toilet.

The plaintiffs managed to socialize with the help of local and international human rights structures and to bring their appeal to court. It is reported that only after the intervention of human rights structures they received a small compensation, and their passports were sent by plane to their country.

In the European Court, the plaintiffs are represented by local lawyers, as well as lawyers from Canada and the United Kingdom.

For all complaints, the European Court sent inquiries to the Government of Azerbaijan. -0--