Azerbaijan is the leader in the Council of Europe in the number of decisions of the Strasbourg Court on violations of Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights – political motives of persecution.
By the end of 2020, there were 12 such cases to be considered by the Committee of Ministers, including six against Azerbaijan, two each against Russia and Ukraine and one each against Georgia and Turkey, according to the annual report of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
At the same time, in Azerbaijan in 2020 in two cases – Ilgar Mammadov and Rasul Jafarov, the government executed the decisions of the ECHR, and in other cases, the rights of the applicants were not restored.
In particular, this is not the implementation of the decisions of the ECHR regarding the “Mammadli group” (human rights defenders Anar Mammadli, Intigam Aliyev, Khadija Ismayilova, activists of the NIDA Movement Zaur Gurbanli, Rashad Hasanov, Rashadat Akhundov, Uzeir Mammadli, Bayram Mammadov, Giyas Ibrahimov “Republican Alternative” Natig Jafarli).
The common denominator in these cases was the recognition of a violation of Article 18 of the European Convention, that is, of political motives of persecution.
The number of new cases referred in 2020 by the European Court to the Committee of Ministers to monitor their implementation was 51. This is three times more than in 2019 (19).
By the end of 2020, Azerbaijan expected the execution of 235 decisions on cases, which is 24% more than in 2019 (189). At the same time, six cases were closed in Azerbaijan in 2020, which is significantly less than in 2019 (16).
In 2020, the “just satisfaction” awarded by the European Court of Justice against Azerbaijan amounted to € 803,726, up from € 707,010 awarded in 2019.
Payments in six cases were made on time, 18 were made out of time. Payment confirmation was still pending in 69 cases.
Turan
