ECHR adopts decision on cases of ban on leaving Azerbaijan

Baku/13.12.18/Turan: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced a decision on the cases of 11 Azerbaijani citizens who were banned from leaving the country: lawyers and journalists.

The ECHR found that the rights guaranteed by Article 13 (effective legal protection) of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 2 (freedom of movement) of Protocol 4 of the same document were violated in relation to the applicants.

The ECHR decided to pay applicants 5 thousand euros in moral damages, as well as 1000 euros for court costs. The total amount of compensation will be 64 thousand euros.

Among the applicants are: the head of the Majlis of the REAL party, Azer Gasimly; the sister of the arrested former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, Jahangir Hajiyev, Amin Hajiyev; the nephew of the former rector of Azerbaijan International University, Azad Mursaliyev.

Also satisfied are the journalists' complaints: Ainur Imranova, Gular Mehdizade, Izolda Agayeva, Aynura Heydarova, Ayten Alekperova (Farhadova) and lawyers: Rovshana Rahimova and Annagi Hajibeyli, as well as Dilara Veliyeva.

With regard to Imranova, who currently resides in Turkey, the ECHR did not recognize the violation of the law under Article 13, since the local courts considered its complaints about leaving the country on the merits, but did not satisfy. The rest of the applicants did not even consider the local courts.

Hajiyeva and Rahimova would not be paid compensation for court expenses, since Rahimova defended herself, and Hajiyeva did not provide evidence of expenses, the ECHR said in a statement.

The ban for these persons to leave Azerbaijan was introduced in 2012-2016. At the same time, they were held in criminal cases only in the status of witnesses, and not suspects or defendants. -06D-