April 11, 2024 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

Azerbaijan and ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has announced seven judgments and decisions on over 30 applications submitted from Azerbaijan. Among the cases considered were complaints from journalist Fikret Ibishbeyli, opposition politician and former political prisoner Yadigar Sadigli, as well as a group of LGBTQ representatives. The government has committed to paying over 230,000 euros in total for all these cases.

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The government acknowledged the rights violations of LGBTQ individuals, but the plaintiffs are dissatisfied with the court’s decision

On April 11, the European Court of Human Rights announced its decision on complaints from 24 LGBTQ community members. The complaints were related to mass detentions and administrative arrests of LGBTQ individuals in September 2017. They alleged persecution, mistreatment, and forced medical examinations due to their sexual orientation while in detention.

The government recognized the plaintiffs’ rights violations and expressed willingness to pay them compensation of 125,000 euros plus an additional 3,000 euros for legal costs. The ECHR removed five applicants from the list – one due to death, others for unknown reasons – and decided to conclude the review considering the government’s readiness to pay compensations.

However, according to Samed Rahimli, the lawyer representing the applicants, his clients do not agree with the proposed “out-of-court settlement” and seek a substantive resolution.

Ragimli explained that the government’s unilateral statement does not impose any obligations on authorities regarding the investigation of law enforcement officers’ unlawful actions and other parties involved in LGBTQ rights violations.

Moreover, the absence of a substantive decision prevents the initiation of anti-discrimination legislation in Azerbaijan.

The names of the applicants are not disclosed. Some of them, fearing further persecution, have left Azerbaijan.

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In terms of the number of applications pending before the ECtHR, Azerbaijan with 1,877 applications is in 7th place

Fine for information dissemination, violations of election rights, and freedom of assembly

ESCPH also announced decisions on several other cases from Azerbaijan, as reported by a legal information website.

For instance, journalist Fikret Ibishbeyli complained about a fine of 500 manats for disseminating information about the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in 2022. The government acknowledged his rights violation and agreed to pay him compensation of 2,250 euros.

In the case “Yadigar Sadigli and others v. Azerbaijan,” complaints from 15 opposition members and civil society activists regarding rights violations during the parliamentary elections on February 9, 2020, were combined. The authorities admitted the violation of the applicants’ rights and agreed to compensate each of them with 4,500 euros.

Nine additional applicants filed similar complaints, consolidated in the case “Sakit Mammadov and others v. Azerbaijan.” In this case, the government also proposed an “out-of-court settlement” and committed to paying the applicants 4,750 euros each for the moral damages.

Gunel Safarova’s complaint about her rights violation during the elections was excluded from consideration as she did not maintain communication with the Strasbourg Court.

Another 10 applicants will receive 1,750 euros each for complaints regarding the violation of the freedom of assembly.