The United States joins the Council of Europe, the European Union, and others in expressing concern about the decision of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan to deny REAL Chairman Ilgar Mammadov’s appeal on November 18, reads US State Department statement.
We urge the Azerbaijani authorities to drop all charges against Mr. Mammadov, to comply with the 2014 European Court of Human Rights ruling on his case, and to release Mr. Mammadov and other individuals who have been incarcerated for exercising their fundamental freedoms, says the document.
* Mammadov was arrested on false charges of organizing riots in the town of Ismayilli in January 2013 and sentenced to 7 years in prison. The ECHR in May 2014 recognized the illegality of Mammadov’s arrest and called for his release.
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers at the meeting of 20-21 September found a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights and Freedoms in refusal to release Mammadov. Discussing Baku’s refusal to execute the decision of the ECHR, the Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution, viewing the refusal of liberating Mammadov as a violation of Article 46.1 of the European Convention for Human Rights and Freedoms, which requires compulsory execution of ECHR judgments.
The Committee called on the Azerbaijani authorities to fulfill their obligations voluntarily and expressed a hope that the Supreme Court within a reasonable time will consider Mammadov’s complaint.
According to human rights defenders, the reference to Article 46 means that in case of further refusal to release Mammadov, the Committee of Ministers may take sanctions against Azerbaijan. -03D-
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The U.S. will prohibit the issuing of visas for nearly a dozen more individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia, bringing the total number to over 100, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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