Council of Europe Urges Release of Ilgar Mamedov

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on March 8-10 addressed issues relating to the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Following the discussions, a decision was made on the case of leader of the Azeri movement Republican Alternative (REAL) Ilgar Mamedov.

Mamedov's lawyer Fuad Agayev has published the document on his Facebook page. It goes as follows:

‘The Deputies

1. recalling their previous decisions and interim resolutions, noted with the greatest concern that:

- the applicant has still not been released despite the fundamental flaws of the criminal proceedings engaged against him, as established by the European Court’s judgment;

- no response been given to the demand for guarantees as to his physical integrity in the meantime;

- so far no domestic court has addressed the violation of Article 18 combined with Article 5 found by the Court and that the examination of the case before the Sheki Court of Appeal has been postponed sine die;

- there has still been no information about any relevant general measure to prevent violations of the rule of law through abuse of power of the kind established in the Court’s judgment;

2. recalling Azerbaijan’s undertaking to abide by the judgment by virtue of Article 46 § 1 of the Convention, exhorted the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure without further delay the applicant’s release and to guarantee his physical integrity in the meantime;

3. reiterated with insistence their invitation to the authorities to provide, without delay, concrete and comprehensive information on the measures taken and/or envisaged to prevent other cases of circumvention of legislation by prosecutors and/or judges for purposes other than those prescribed, as well as to prevent new violations of the presumption of innocence;

4. agreed to resume consideration of this case at their 1259th meeting (June 2016) (DH), and, in the event that the applicant has not been released by the time of finalisation of the revised draft Order of Business for that meeting, instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution foreseeing stronger measures, to be circulated with that document.’

Ilgar Mamedov was arrested in January 2013 on charges of rioting in Ismayilli and sentenced to seven years in prison. In May 2014 the European Court found the arrest and imprisonment of Ilgar Mamedov unjustified, calling on Azerbaijan to release him. -06D--