Government recognised violation of rights of LGBT representatives, however...

On 11 April, the European Court of Human Rights announced a decision on the complaints of 24 representatives of the LGBT community.

The complaint was related to the mass detentions and administrative arrests of LGBT representatives in Azerbaijan in September 2017. They complained that they were harassed and ill-treated in detention centres because of their orientation and forced medical examinations.

The government recognised the violations of the applicants' rights and expressed readiness to pay them euro 125,000 compensation and an additional euro 3,000 for legal costs.

Note that the ECHR excluded 5 applicants from the list - one due to death; others for unknown reasons, and decided to finalise the examination given the government's readiness to pay compensation.

However, lawyer Samed Rahimli, who represented the interests of the applicants, told Turan that his clients did not agree with the proposed "amicable agreement" and sought a judgement on the merits.

Rahimli explained that the government's unilateral statement does not impose any obligation on the authorities to investigate the illegal actions of law enforcers and others involved in LGBT rights violations.

The absence of the decision on the merits also does not allow to initiate the adoption of an anti-discrimination law in Azerbaijan.

No names of the applicants have been disclosed. Some of them, fearing further persecution, have left Azerbaijan.

 On 11 April, the ECHR also announced a decision on a number of other cases from Azerbaijan, according to the legal information website https://aihmaz.org/.

For example, journalist Fikret Ibishbeyli complained about euro 500 fine for disseminating information about the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone in 2022. The government recognised the violation of his rights and agreed to pay him compensation of euro 2,250.

The case of "Yadigar Sadigli and Others v. Azerbaijan" consolidated the complaints of 15 opposition and civil society activists about the violation of their rights during the parliamentary elections on 9 February 2020.

The authorities recognised the violation of the applicants' rights and agreed to pay compensation of euro 4,500 each.

A similar complaint was lodged by another 9 applicants, whose case was consolidated in the case "Sakit Mammadov and Others v. Azerbaijan". In this case, the government also offered a "settlement" and undertook to pay the applicants euro 4,750 each for moral damages.

Gunel Safarova's complaint was related to the violation of her rights during the elections, but it was excluded from the list of pending cases because she did not continue to communicate with the Strasbourg Court.

Another 10 complainants will be paid euro 750 each for their complaints of violation of the freedom of assembly.