Azerbaijani Authorities Lose another Case at ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights today announced the decision on the complaint from the opposition member Aydin Shukurov against the government of Azerbaijan. The ECHR found a violation of his rights in parliamentary elections in 2010 and decided that he should be paid compensation of EUR 10,000 and EUR 1,000 of the court costs.

At the ECHR Shukurov was represented by a lawyer and human rights defender Intigam Aliyev.

In an interview with Turan Aliyev said Shukurov as a member of the Classic Popular Front Party ran for the 125^th Zangilan-Gubadli district. Shukurov said that during the elections there were mass violations and falsifications. However, the CEC rejected his complaint. Further appeals to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court were not satisfied either.

The ECHR concluded that the complaints were not investigated effectively.

In addition, the ECHR regarded as a violation of the right of individual defense the seizure of materials on the Shukurov case during the search in Intigam Aliyev’s office on August 8th.

The ECHR found a violation of Shukurov’s rights under Article 3 of Protocol № 1 (right to free elections), Article 13 (right to an effective legal aid) and 34 (right to individual petition).

It is interesting that the Azerbaijani government asked the ECHR in determining the size of the monetary compensation to take into account the devaluation of the national currency. However, the Court decided to apply the rate at the time of the complaint, rather than at the time of the decision.

This is the 37^th decision of the ECHR issued on complaints of the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in 2010.    -06B--