Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to examine how Azerbaijan implement judgments of the European Court

On Septebmer 17-th the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is starting its quarterly meeting to examine how CoE member states, including Azerbaijan, implement judgments of the European Court.  Among the cases that have been proposed for detailed examination are those concerning Azerbaijan.

Mahmudov and Agazade (group of cases), the judgments became final on 18/03/2009 (press release about the judgment), they concern violation of the right to freedom of expression, arbitrary application of the law on defamation (detailed case here).

Mammadli (group of cases), the judgments became final on 19/07/2018 (see the press release about the judgment). They concern arrest and pre-trial detention to punish the applicants for his activities in the area of electoral monitoring or for their active social and political engagement in breach of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5 (detailed description here).

On 29 April 2024 the applicant in the first case, Mr Anar Mammadli, was arrested. He was subsequently placed in pre-trial detention for three months and 28 days, and charged with "smuggling by a group" under article 206.3.2 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code. His case is reportedly joined to that of Abzas Media journalists.

The Committee of Ministers will publish its decisions on Friday, the 20th of September 2024.