Lawyers voiced concern about the prevalence of cases of of non-compliance with ECHR resolutions in Azerbaijan

Baku/12.11.21/Turan: The Center for Election Monitoring and Democracy Education (CEMDE) held an online conference of lawyers involved in the defense of cases of Azerbaijani citizens considered in the European Court of Human Rights.

For many years, there have been problems in Azerbaijan around the implementation of ECHR decisions regarding violations of resolutions of local courts containing infringements of freedom of assembly, speech and other human rights. The situation tends to become critical, the number of unfulfilled resolutions of the ECHR is growing," said Anar Mammadli, Chairman of the CEMDE.

Lawyer Emin Aslan is engaged in the "Case of the Neimat Aliyev Group" adopted by the ECHR which has been discussed for 15 years in the form of correspondence between Azerbaijan and the ECHR.  The ECHR's decision on this case is not being implemented in Azerbaijan; however,  this does not impede the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to cooperate with Azerbaijan, Anar Mammadli is surprised.

Lawyer Emin Aslan added that the EU report for 2020 is reflective of 102 decisions, among them Azerbaijan leads with 25 decisions.  The EU Court notes shortcomings in local courts that issue resolutions containing violations when considering election lawsuits.  Judicial errors are repeated to indicate systemic violations in the proceedings. Court decisions are made under a carbon copy without a thorough study. 

It should be noted that the lack of objectivity in election commissions arise due to predominance of representatives of the ruling party therein. Complaints of participants in the electoral process are rejected en masse in the courts without judicial examination.  There is no independent examination of the reasons to deviate from the elections of those wishing to run. In the case of Gahramanly, Shukyurov et al. versus Azerbaijan, the ECHR states the absence of objective proceedings in local courts when considering the complaint. The court considered the testimony of the accused party only regarding Atakishiev's claim which violated the objectivity of the process, the ECHR resolution says.

"The local courts refuse to study the complaints of the accusers, selectively apply the provisions of the legislation, reject the claims of the participants in the process," Aslan's lawyer listed. He believes that in order to ensure the conduct of real elections in the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, it is necessary to strengthen responsibility for violating election rules, strengthen transparency and the participation of independent observers, ensure the independence of local courts and the independence of the Constitutional Court that reviews the work of local judicial instances. 

Lawyer Emin Abbasov defends the case of the "Ramazanov group against Azerbaijan" from 2007, communication with Azerbaijan on which has not been completed. The "Ramazanov Group case" concerns the violation of the right to hold meetings. The ECHR expects Azerbaijan to eliminate obstacles to freedom of assembly.

Abbasov said that the number of members of this group with specific complaints about violations of the right to register public organizations is growing. The number of plaintiffs falling into the "Ramazanov group" has been growing since 2007 (the case of "Jafarov versus Azerbaijan", etc.), problems are not resolved, and disputes between the ECHR and Azerbaijan are ongoing.

Abbasov said that the violation of the right to register public organizations can be divided into groups as follows:

First, delaying the registration process in state agencies which the Ministry of Justice explains by the workload. The ECHR considers this explanation unfounded.

Second, the Ministry of Justice does not make a final decision on registration, delaying correspondence between the Ministry of Justice and citizens applying to it for years. The ECHR considers this an actual refusal of registration.

Third: the repressive decisions of the Ministry of Justice against registered NGOs, as well as their liquidation by the decision of the Ministry of Justice, also result adopting resolutions of the ECHR against Azerbaijan.  Along with this, Abbasov believes, the ECHR reveals the criminalization of the actions of non-governmental organizations in the resolutions of local courts, in the form of accusations of illegal activities and tax evasion.

The government declares that there are no obstacles for the activities of unregistered NGOs; however, in the case of Anar Mammadli and the Ramazanov group, etc., we see the opposite," the lawyer explained. He focused on total violations of the rule of law in trials together with identified cases of tortures.

The practice of Azerbaijani courts dealing with NGO complaints is mirrored in the resolution of the European Commission for Democracy through Law which pointed out shortcomings in Azerbaijani legislation.  

Azerbaijan's non-payment of monetary compensations issued by the ECHR and non-rehabilitation of illegally convicted persons in the country is highlighted in the report of lawyer Samad Rahimli, who dealt with the case "Anar Mammadli et al. versus Azerbaijan" (covers events of 2013-2017), and other cases submitted to the ECHR.  In these cases, violations of the provisions of the Convention on Human Rights have been established due to violations during detention and searches, in repressive cases against public activists and journalists. Note that the decisions of local courts are recognized by the ECHR as politically motivated. Now these cases are under consideration by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The execution of the ECHR resolutions in the cases of Natik Jafarli and Ilgar Mammadov has been over, the Supreme Court does not make decisions on the implementation of the ECHR resolution in other similar cases, explaining this as quarantine issues.  The lawyer considers such justification to be unfounded and argues that, as in the cases of Jafarli and Mammadov, monetary compensation for other processes can also be resolved promptly.

The decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe refers to the dependence of the courts, the dependence of the prosecutor's office on the authorities as the reasons for non-compliance with the ECHR decision. Should these circumstances be excluded, Azerbaijan could achieve objectivity in judicial processes.  Nevertheless, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe intends to discuss the lack of institutional reforms and the dependence of the courts of Azerbaijan in its next report. 

The autonomy of the budget and the activities of the judicial corps is necessary to remove concerns of Azerbaijani judges when making decisions concerning the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities, Rahimli's lawyer concluded.

"We need to think about the necessity to submit to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe an initiative on the petition of this structure to Azerbaijan to carry out reforms in the judicial and prosecutorial spheres together with the creation of Councils of Judges and Councils of Prosecutors to thus attain the independence of these structures. There is no institute of independent forensic examination in Azerbaijan. Now the prosecutors appear in the courts not as an independent party to the trial but as defenders of the authorities' intertests," the lawyer said.

Lawyer Khalid Agaliyev in the ECHR defends the interests of Gafgaz Mammadov, accusing Azerbaijan.  More than 300 ECHR resolutions have been sent to Azerbaijan, of which just 44 of the requirements of the European Court have been finally fulfilled," Agaliyev said.

The case of the Gafgaz Mammadov Group against Azerbaijan unites 41 claims of Azerbaijani citizens, reflecting complaints about illegal arrests and restriction of freedom of assembly, since 2012. The authorities consider themselves entitled to disperse meetings held without permission, although Azerbaijani legislation provides for notifying the authorities of the intention to hold meetings.

The execution of the decisions of the ECHR over 34 cases considered in the ECHR has been implemented while in other cases no compensation has been paid due to the plaintiffs' presence outside Azerbaijan," the executive explains. The number of unfulfilled ECHR resolutions in this group grows annually.  The Committee of Ministers notes this circumstance as emphasizing the lack of necessary information from Azerbaijan, which hinders decision-making in the CM.

According to Agaliyev, the Azerbaijani authorities are informing about amendments to the legislation with due regard for the Venice Commission's recommendations, Agaliyev said.

Also, he emphasized inconsistency of local legislation with European laws which is manifest in different interpretations of the right to freedom of assembly. There is a different understanding of the powers of local authorities in determining the place and time of public meetings. The Azerbaijani reality in this part needs reforms. 

When considering the causes of Azerbaijan's conflict with the ECHR in the "Mammadov case, etc." Agaliyev drew attention to the lack of freedom of local courts. There are shortcomings in the laws that manifest themselves in the cases of "Jehovah's Witnesses against Azerbaijan" and other cases before the ECHR. Agaliev suggests to the community of lawyers in their correspondence with the European Court to be a minimalist, insisting on reforms in legislation, and then many other problems would be solved. The maximalist approach in making demands on Azerbaijan is useless, Agaliyev believes.

To conclude, Anar Mammadli announced the holding of the following online conferences on the conflict between a large number of decisions of the ECHR on Azerbaijan and their non-implementation on the spot.—0—