European Court Ruled on Eleven Cases against Azerbaijani Government

Today, the European Court of Human Rights announced three decisions on 11 cases from Azerbaijan.

The Strasbourg Court reported that it was a complaint of individuals unreasonably arrested and fined for taking part in protest rallies in Baku on 12 and 26 January, 10 March, 29 December 2013 and 6 May 2014.

The ECHR found violations of the applicants' rights under articles 6 (right to a fair trial) and 11 (freedom of assembly) of the European Convention.

ECHR was based on the fact that the authorities dispersed the rallies, and punishing their participants, did not provide sufficient evidence of the validity of this. The dispersal of the action was a violation of freedom of assembly, and the courts in these cases were not fair.

Vusal Bayramov was fined for taking part in the rallies on January 12 and 26, Sakhavat Mehdiyev - on January 12, and Tuncay Guliyev - on January 26.

Azer Sadigov, Javid Garayev and Osman Ahmadov were fined in connection with the March 10 action, and Khadija Ismayilova - for participation in the January 26 demonstration.

Javid Hajibayli and Tural Sadygly were punished for the action on December 29.

Kamalya Bananyarly and Orhan Eyubzade were arrested on May 6, 2014 for participating in a protest against the verdict against activists of the NIDA movement.

The ECHR decided that the applicants should be paid compensation for moral damage in the amounts of 4 to 8 thousand euros. In addition, compensation from 480 euros to 850 euros each should be opaid to the fined people.

Compensations were also established for court expenses for the lawyers of the applicants - Asabali Mustafayev, Fariz Namazli, Khalid Bagirov and Ruslan Mustafazadeh.  -16B06-