Ilgar Mammadov v. Azerbaijan (App.15172/13)

Briefed on: 12 September 2016

The case concerns the arrest and detention of the applicant, an opposition politician, in violation of Articles 5, 6 and 18 of the Convention. The ECtHR concluded inter alia that the applicant was arrested for reasons other than those permitted by Article 5, namely to silence or punish the applicant for having criticized the Azerbaijani government. Mr Mammadov won a series of cases at the European Court of Human Rights and was released in August 2018. In April 2020 Mr Mammadov was issued with a full acquittal by the Azerbaijan Supreme Court, with an award of compensation. This restored his right to run in elections. The supervision of his case was closed on 01/09/2020. As of April 2020, other Azerbaijani victims of political persuction identified by the European Court of Human Rights still wait for justice (including Anar Mammaldi and Intigam Aliyev).

• Case briefing note (includes material on other cases)

• Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

Namat Aliyev group (App. 18705/06) v. Azerbaijan

Briefed on: 11 September 2015, 12 September 2016 and 20 May 2019

These cases concern parliamentary elections that occurred in Azerbaijan in November 2005; applicants were members of the opposition parties or independent candidates. The ECtHR found violations of Article 3, Protocol No. 1 due to actions by the electoral commissions and domestic courts deemed arbitrary and without motivation, including rejecting complaints alleging breaches of electoral law and cancelling candidate registration. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan annulled the elections in the electoral constituencies of certain applicants without sufficient reason, and without affording procedural safeguards to the parties (including the inability to participate in a review hearing).

Documents from the 2019 briefing:

• Latest communication from the authorities on the Namat Aliyev case (Feb. 2018)

• Communication from a NGO “EMDS (Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre)” (23/04/2019) in the case of MAMMADLI (Ilgar Mammadov group) v. Azerbaijan

• Power point by Tural Agayev

Sargsyan v Azerbaijan and Chiragov v Armenia

Briefed on: 24 May 2016

Two Grand Chamber judgments delivered on 16 June 2015 upheld the European Convention rights of families displaced by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the early 1990s, a conflict that created hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally-displaced persons (IDPs) on both sides, and which has remained unresolved in the ensuing decades. Peace negotiations have been held under the auspices of the OSCE ‘Minsk Group’ (co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States), but as the judgments make clear, settlement negotiations have repeatedly failed.

• Briefing note by Philip Leach, European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC); and Rhodri Williams
• Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights: Sargsyan v Azerbaijan and Chiragov v Armenia

Mahmudov and Agazade Group v. Azerbaijan (App no 35877/04), Fatullayev v. Azerbaijan (App no 40984/07)

Briefed on: 11 September 2015

Case summary: Applicants were prosecuted for the publication of a print article in 2003 and objected to their imprisonment for defamation of a politician and agriculture expert; the Court found violations of Articles 10.

• Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights