In Azerbaijan, it is time to correct the situation in human rights

In connection with the chairmanship of Azerbaijan to the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Media Rights Institute (MRI) has prepared a report entitled "Enforcement of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Azerbaijan."

In an interview with Turan the MRI project manager Khalid Agaliyev outlined the contents of the report and its findings.

Question: What are the issues included in the report?

Answer: The report contains an analysis of the decisions of the European Court made ​​until May 2014, as well as their execution, which is controlled by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The document also reflects the necessary guidance mechanism of national and international control over the execution of the decision.

Question: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe believes that Azerbaijan is moving towards a democratic and pluralistic society. Does your report confirm this resume?

Answer: Probably, this opinion is based only on the PACE decision of the European Court rendered against Azerbaijan and analysis of the situation in response to decisions of the European Court. In order to arrive at such a high conclusion it also requires fairly extensive analysis of various fields. It should be noted that in Azerbaijan to restore democratic and legal state, there is a need to do a lot of serious work. The report reflects the same approach, because most of the made ​​decisions against Azerbaijan indicate that problems are associated with the system. The enforcement of required reforms should be at the institutional level.

Question: How many complaints from Azerbaijan has ECHR received?

Answer: Quality of appeals was not the subject of study of this report. Earlier I noted that when the report was prepared, the question of the imposition of decisions by the European Court and their implementation was investigated. As to the question of many or few applications going from Azerbaijan to the European Court, it would be more correct to compare with the statistics from previous years or with countries with a similar situation. According to general statistics, up to January 2014 the European Court received 1,463 appeals from Azerbaijan. In the same period Armenia sent 998 complaints and Georgia sent 2,488. However, the number is not the main indicator. Using other indicators may hold more precise comparisons. As you know, over time, the number of complaints to the European Court increased incrementally. Awareness of people about the activities of the European Court has caused increase in the number of complaints. However, with the increasing number of complaints, it is necessary to pay attention to their quality. In this topic, there are some trends, which we should stop at. The Convention has such articles, for which the number of decisions of the European Court is not enough. For example, if you have serious problems in Azerbaijan with freedom of assembly, in connection with the violation of this right against Azerbaijan the first decision was made only at the end of 2013. If there are problems with the limitations of rights, Article 18 of the European Convention has been applied only in the case of Ilgar Mamedov this year. In Azerbaijan, there are serious problems with the regulation of television and radio. This area is completely under the control of the authorities. However, there have been no decisions of the European Court in connection with this matter, although 5-6 years ago the European Court took an exemplary decision against Moldova. This decision has made sufficient contributions to the development of TV and radio regulations in Moldova. All this creates speculation and doubts the effectiveness of the decisions of the European Court, which are used precisely as an instrument by law-breakers.

Question: What are the typical violations of national and European legislation, including commitments, fixed in your report?

Answer: The report analyzes the European Court decisions aimed at protection of the following rights: the right to life, prohibition of torture, the right to liberty and security, freedom of expression, assembly and association, fair trial, the right to property, and the right to choose. Given that the document covers a large number of articles, listing specific violations would take up a lot of time. Most decisions show that the problems come from legislation or experience of the law. One of the main conditions applying to the European Court is the exhaustion of all available domestic remedies, and therefore subject to review cases in the European Court, for the most part, are disorders that make law enforcement and judicial authorities. At the same time, many solutions are repetitive. The situation for the implementation of such decisions shows that the state does not demonstrate a serious effort to address the problems in the system. In many cases, in which compensation is determined, justice is not only recovered by the payment of compensation, as justice is a broader concept.

Question: There are a number of decisions of the ECHR that official Baku does not perform, such as in the cases of Ali Insanov, Ilgar Mamedov, Leyla Yunus and others. What does the government rely on by refusing to perform such judgments?

Answer: The report contains information on default cases. In general, the decisions of the European Court involve two types of measures: general and specific. Special issues include compensation and a new trial, depending on the case itself. In Azerbaijan, problems with the payment of compensation do not usually happen. However, in Azerbaijan there are still problems with the revision of cases after the decision of the European Court. For example, as noted in the report, there are concerns with the correction of the known violations in the Insanov case. This issue is under the control of the Committee of Ministers. There is a strong negative precedent in connection with Azerbaijan, with the use of the European Court decisions in national courts. For example, the European Court found a violation of pre-trial arrest in the cases of Akif Muradverdiyev and Ganimat Zahid, but the experience of the local courts does not change. Moreover, this experience has not been applied in any case of social and political activists, such as in the cases of Avaz Zeynalli, Anar Mammadli, Ilgar Mamedov or Tofig Yagublu, who were arrested before the trial. Regarding the case of Ilgar Mamedov, the decision on the case will be sent for execution only after the entry into force. For this reason, to talk about the case as exclusive is still early. However, the authorities can eliminate the violations at this stage. In order to make the authorities less self-confident, activity of civil society and media is very important. They have to track this question every day.

Question: One of the functions of the Council of Ministers is to oversee the implementation of the decisions of the ECHR. How will this affect the problem of execution of judgments of the European Court in Azerbaijan and the country's chairmanship in the Council Committee of Ministers?

Answer: General observations indicate that Azerbaijan's chairmanship in the Committee of Ministers casts serious doubt on the positive impact on the decisions of the European Court. Here we only have to hope. Starting the presidency, Azerbaijan promised to fulfill the three priority issues: human rights, rule of law and democracy, although it could be more responsible, at least to have its authority returned.

Question: Does your report contain recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Council of Europe?

Answer: Yes, in the report there are recommendations to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Performance of certain decisions is not limited to the payment of compensation. The Committee of Ministers waits for the response on the action plan of the state on the situation with the implementation of new solutions and resolving violations. If you pay attention to the web page of the Committee of Ministers in connection with the implementation of the decisions by Azerbaijan, you can see that the government has not yet informed on the implementation of certain decisions. From this perspective, the Committee of Ministers, along with the complainants, should be also provided assistance from the civil society by regularly sending relevant information and reports. For example, the web page of the Committee of Ministers contains information from the Media Rights Institute on the status of the media and in particular the freedom of expression. This helps the Committee of Ministers to make appropriate recommendations and monitor the issue of implementation of the state's obligations. This report also includes recommendations on specific articles.

Question: In its National Action Plan on Human Rights adopted in 2011, the Azerbaijani government undertakes to effectively implement the decisions of the ECHR. How can we evaluate the effectiveness of the program?

Answer: The report contains observations in this regard. The general approach is that more important is not just the document itself, but the way it is performed. Questionable is also the execution of the document itself, involving the effective implementation of the decisions of the European Court. If they do not change their attitude to such values ​​as human rights and there is no political will for that, then this type of documents will not be effective. In addition to the national program of activities, there are many laws requiring respect for human rights. The situation with the execution of decisions gives rise to wish the program's effectiveness.

Question: What do you recommend to government agencies responsible for implementing the action plan?

Answer: State structures are part of the state, which has been declared a democratic state ruled by law. They should just perform the duties assigned to them by law. Civil society also works in this direction and is ready to provide all possible support. The recommendations reflected in the report are mainly related to the state structures. There is a need not only to monitor the decisions of the European Court concerning Azerbaijan, but also to study the solutions on other countries. We must use the opportunity to fix the problems and gaps in national legislation and it is necessary to depart from the approach after the event.

Question: What do you think should be done for the number of appeals to the ECHR to become fewer and for the decisions of the European Court to be scrupulously fulfilled?

Answer: In the report, we touched these issues in detail, at least in the form of recommendations. However, in general it can be noted that for the restoration of the rule of law, fundamental reforms are needed. Otherwise, the European Court will make new decisions on the same offenses and problems. Imposition of multiple solutions for the same violations is not a good indicator of a country member of the European family. This suggests that the authorities do not draw conclusions from previous violations. Decisions of the European Court, along with other issues, are costly to the state budget due to the compensation. These funds can be directed to reforms. In every society there have always been certain problems. However, the scope and depth of the problems in several states as a whole may jeopardize the future of the country. The report also noted that Azerbaijan is among the 12 countries of the Council of Europe, where there are serious structural problems in the national system in relation to human rights. This is not a good situation and it's time to change it.