REAL Demands Immediate Release of Ilgar Mamedov

The movement REAL (Republican Alternative) issued a statement in connection with the continued arrest of the leader of this organization Ilgar Mamedov.

He was arrested Feb. 4, 2013 on trumped-up charges of organizing riots in Ismayilli.

The European Court of Human Rights in its judgment of 22 May 2014 recognized the political motives of his arrest and in particular his prosecution to silence his criticism of the government and make it impossible for him to participate in the presidential election. According to the decision of the ECHR, in relation to Mamedov Article 5 (right to liberty), 6 (fair trial) and 18 (violation of the rights for political reasons) of the European Convention on Human Rights were violated.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 4 December 2014 reviewed the execution of the decision of the ECHR on the Mamedov case and demanded the immediate release of the leader of REAL.

Consideration of the report of the Azerbaijani government on this issue is scheduled for March 11. Nevertheless, the government still intentionally fails to comply with the ECHR decision and continues to illegally detain him.

On the other hand, examination of Mamedov's appeal on the illegal and politically motivated sentence - deprivation of liberty for a term of 5 years - was postponed by the Supreme Court on January 13 indefinitely and the hearings are still intentionally delayed.

REAL requires the government of Azerbaijan to comply with its international obligations and immediately execute the decision of the ECHR and also to release other people convicted on the Ismayilli events - Tofig Yagublu and others. -06D--