The government responded to the Council of Europe in the case of Ilgar Mammadov

Baku / 29.11.17 / Turan: The Azerbaijani government responded to the warning of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe about the intention to start legal actions against Baku for enforcement of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of REAL leader Ilgar Mammadov.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on October 25 issued an official warning to Baku, noting that the arrest and prolonged detention of Mammadov were accompanied by a violation of several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, the court pointed out that the actual purpose of the prosecution and detention of the oppositionist was an attempt to silence or punish him for criticizing the government, in violation of Article 18 (limits on the application of restrictions on rights) of the Convention. However, more than three years later, Mammadov is still in prison.

Therefore, the Committee of Ministers decided to start a procedure for the return of the case to the European Court of Human Rights, which will take an additional decision,

failure to implement the previous decision is an additional violation of the Convention.

Until November 29, the Azerbaijani government was to submit its opinion in writing. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe intends to return to this issue on December 5.

The reply of the Azerbaijani government to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe states that the ECHR decision "did not explicitly state" that Ilgar Mamedov should be immediately released. Therefore, the government "had a choice of ways to enforce a court decision." It is also added that the government will take the necessary steps in the case of Ilgar Mammadov in accordance with the decision of the Court," Erkin Gadirli, a member of the REAL movement board, wrote on his Facebook page.

According to human rights activist Rasul Jafarov, the government's arguments are not consistent.

The mere fact of recognizing the violation of Mamedov's rights under Article 18 of the European Convention confirms the political nature of his persecution, which a priori implies the release of the prisoner.

In the history of the ECHR, there were five cases of recognition of the violation of the applicant's rights and all of them were released, Jafarov told Turan.

The leader of the REAL movement, Ilgar Mammadov, was arrested in connection with the riots in the city of Ismayilli on January 23-24, 2013. Despite arriving in the city after restoring calm, Mammadov was accused of organizing riots, resisting the police and sentenced to 7 years in prison.

In May 2014, the ECHR ruled that the arrest and detention of Ilgar Mammadov violated many provisions of the European Convention and demanded his release. -06D-