The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today announced the decision in the case of the human rights defenders Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus.
The ECHR found a violation of the rights of the spouses under Article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention, and decided to pay them compensation for the 13,000 Euros each, and another 4,000 Euros for the court costs.
The ECHR found that during the pre-trial arrest both spouses were not provided the necessary high-quality health care that is regarded as torture.
The ECHR also ruled that the Government of Azerbaijan does not respect its obligations under Article 34 (individual applications) of the European Convention.
As the lawyer Javad Javadov told Turan, this article is applied due to the fact that the spouses’ defender Khalid Baghirov was dismissed from the profession and was not allowed to the detainees.
Javadov also reported on the completion of the communication at the ECHR of two complaints from the spouses Yunus - under Articles 5 (right to liberty and security) and 18 (restriction of rights). In particular, these complaints are related to unfounded pre-trial detention of the spouses, as well as politically motivated harassment.
* Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus were arrested in the summer of 2014 on charges of economic crimes. The Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced them to 8.5 and 7 years in prison, respectively, on August 13, 2015.
Amnesty International recognized them "prisoners of conscience". On December 9, 2015 they were released conditionally on probation for five years. On April 19, after persistent appeals of international organizations they were released from Azerbaijan for treatment abroad. -16C06-
Politics
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Voting in the early elections to the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan began at 8:00. Voting is taking place at 6,478 polling stations throughout Azerbaijan, including the lands liberated from occupation. 990 candidates are competing for 125 seats in the unicameral parliament.
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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