European Court ordered Azerbaijani government to pay compensation to activist sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment

Baku/23.02.23/Turan: On February 23, the European Court of Human Rights announced 5 decisions on applications sent from Azerbaijan.

Head of the monitoring group of the European Court of Human Rights, Hadid Agaliyev, told Turan that the plaintiffs complained about the injustice of the courts and violation of property rights.

In Ilkin Rustamzade's complaint against Azerbaijan, the ECHR decided that the applicant's rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 6 (right to fair trial) and Article 10 (freedom of expression) were violated.

The government must pay Rustamzade 12,000 euros for moral damages and 2,500 euros for legal costs and expenses.

To recall, Rustamzade was one of the founders of the organization "Azad Ganjlik" established in 2011.

He was convicted for participating in the dance "Harlem shake" on Baku's seaside boulevard in May 2013. He was accused of hooliganism for posting a video of this dance on Youtube.

Later, he was accused of preparing mass riots, membership in a group engaged in the illegal acquisition and transportation of weapons, storage of explosives and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. He was pardoned after serving 6 years.

The European Court of Justice has also made a decision on the case of Emin Bashirli and others against Azerbaijan. In this case, the applicants were the founders of the HIV Youth Center/AIDS and Narcology and other public associations established in 2012.

The Ministry of Justice returned the registration documents of these NGOs four times, refusing registration. The complaint was filed about the violation of the right to association (Article 11 of the Convention) and to a fair trial (Article 6 of the Convention).

According to Khalid Agaliyev, the ECHR recognized the violation of the applicants' rights and ordered the government to pay 2,700 euros to the first applicants (Emin Bashirli and Vusal Yolchuev) and 1,600 euros to the second applicants (Mehriban Ahmedova and Ceyhun Aliyev). All applicants will also be paid 1,000 euros for court costs.

In the case of Gubad Bayramov and Rajab Imanov v. Azerbaijan, the complaint was related to the refusal to register the "Center for Public Initiatives".

The Ministry of Justice twice returned the registration documents of the "Center" established in 2012, and the courts did not satisfy the complaints filed against the actions of the Ministry of Justice.

The applicants complained of a violation of their right to association (Article 11 of the Convention) and to a fair trial (Article 6 of the Convention).

The Court confirmed the violation of the applicants' rights to freedom of association and ordered the Government to pay them 4,500 euros in compensation for moral damage and 500 euros for legal costs.

In the case of Ainur Imranov and Asya Akhmedov v. Azerbaijan, the European Court also found a violation of the right to freedom of association. The applicants did not make any financial claims in this case.

This court case is connected with the refusal to register the public association "Support for the Development of Mass Media and Democracy". In 2014, the Ministry of Justice returned the registration documents of the union established in 2014.

The European Court also ruled in the case of Yashar Aghazade and others against Azerbaijan, recognizing the violation of the right to freedom of association. According to the decision, the government must pay 4,500 euros of compensation to the first applicants (Rovshan Kabirli and Yashar Aghazade) and 2,000 euros to the second applicants (Fagan Asadov and Yashar Aghazade).

Applicants must also be paid 1,000 euros for reimbursement of expenses.

This court case was also connected with the refusal to register public organizations. Yashar Aghazade was one of the founders of the organization "Assistance to Penitentiary Reforms". The Ministry of Justice did not register the organization created in 2011, and local courts recognized the actions of the Ministry of Justice as legitimate. -16D-