Baku / 03.01.19 / Turan: Member of the Republican Alternative party Zaur Gurbanly appealed to the court after the district election commission overturned its own decision of December 18 to approve his candidacy in the parliamentary elections on February 9, 2020.
The commission motivated its decision with Gurbanly’s criminal record. The Baku Court of Appeal examined the complaint on January 2.
Gurbanly was arrested in 2013 together with a group of activists of the Nida movement and convicted on charges of organizing riots and other crimes to 8 years in prison. In 2014, he was pardoned. According to the legislation, Gurbanli has no right to run for election to the elected bodies for six years.
However, the European Court of Human Rights has found a violation of its rights under Articles 5 (right to freedom) and 18 (limits on the use of restrictions on rights). The latter article means recognition of the political motives for the persecution.
Azerbaijan’s Plenipotentiary Envoy to the ECHR Chingiz Askerov sent a letter to the CE Committee of Ministers in September 2019 stating that the Plenum of the Supreme Court will review cases against 8 persons (Ilgar Mammadov, Rasul Jafarov, Anar Mammadli, Intigam Aliyev, Zaur Gurbanly, Uzeyir Mammadli, Rashadat Akhundov and Rashad Hasanov), violation of whose rights under Article 18 was recognized by the ECHR.
“The letter was sent on September 12 and the Plenum was to be held within three months, that is, until December 12. However, the meeting of the Plenum is illegally delayed, and we are left out of the elections,” Gurbanly said at a court meeting.
In turn, the representative of the CEC Ramiz Ibrahimov said that if the Plenum of the Supreme Court removes the criminal record from Gurbanly, the CEC may reconsider the matter.
“The wrong coordination of actions between state bodies is not my fault, but the state’s fault,” Gurbanly said in turn. As a result, his complaint was rejected.
Gurbanly intends to file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. He recalled that for the last time the Council of Europe on December 5 called on the Azerbaijani authorities to rehabilitate 8 people, violation of the rights of which was recognized by Art. 18, by December 31. — 06D-
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