Azerbaijani Authorities to Pay Compensation to Prisoner

On July 4, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) considered the appeal of Azerbaijani prisoner for life, Shakir Rzakhanov. The ECHR determined that the conditions of his incarceration were a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention (prohibition of torture) for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), and awarded him moral damages in the amount of 7,500 euros and costs of 2,000 euros.

The Court found that Rzakhanov was held in solitary confinement and the conditions "exceeded the unavoidable level inherent in imprisonment, and should be considered as inhuman and degrading treatment."

According to Rzakhanov’s representative to the ECHR, the director of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan (HRCA), Eldar Zeynalov, "Rzakhanov was one of the 128 prisoners sentenced to death, whose sentence was changed in 1998 to life imprisonment”. Since that time, he has been kept in Gobustan Prison, where there have been numerous complaints about the conditions of detention and treatment of staff, as well as a violation of the law by sentencing him to life imprisonment. In February 2008, the head of the prison placed him in solitary confinement. 

Rzakhanov’s correspondence was fully censored. One of the reasons under which Rzakhanov was  kept in solitary confinement for two years and 10 months were his official complaints to which he was legally entitled. The European Court also took into consideration the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which visited the prison in 2008. 

This is the sixth complaint from Azerbaijani life prisoners that received a favorable judgment in Strasbourg. -02D-