ECHR announces decision on cases of 4 Azerbaijani oppositionists

Baku/15.12.22/Turan:  Today the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced decisions on 6 complaints from Azerbaijan. 

According to the aihmaz.org website, citing official information from the Council of Europe, 4 complaints were combined in one case “Jabbar Savalanli and others v. Azerbaijan”.

The talk is about the cases of activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Jabbar Savalanli and Murad Adilov, deputy chairman of the Musavat party Faraj Karimli and his brother Siraj Karimli. They were all arrested and sentenced to prison on drug trafficking charges.

The applicants stated in their applications for detention pending investigation that they had been arrested for anti-government activities based on fabricated evidence. The local courts motivated the detention based on the gravity of the charges and the risks of the applicants evading the investigation.

The ECHR found in all cases a violation of Article 5 (the right to liberty and security of person) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms.

However, the ECHR found inadmissible the applicants' allegations of a violation of Article 18 (Limits on the use of restrictions on rights).

After the entry into force of the decision, the government is obliged to pay each applicant 10,000 manats. In the cases of Faraj and Siraj Karimli, a total of 3,000 more euros must be paid to reimburse court costs, and in the case of Adilov, 2,000 euros.

In another case of Cavid Mammadov, who also complained of a violation of the right to liberty and security of person, the government and the applicant reached an amicable agreement, and the authorities undertook to pay him compensation in the amount of 3,500 euros.

The complaint of Isa Ibrahimov was excluded from the list of cases because his lawyer at the communication stage notified the ECtHR that he no longer represents the applicant, and he himself did not respond to letters from the Strasbourg court. -06B-