Communication in accordance with RULE 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers | (47145/14)

Communication in accordance with RULE 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers regarding the supervision of the execution of judgment the Mammadli v. Azerbaijan group of cases (47145/14)

We write to lodge submissions pursuant to Rule 9(2) of the Committee of Ministers’ Rules for the Supervision of the Execution of Judgments in respect of the Mammadli group, currently consisting of seven applicants who are human rights defenders, civil society activists and a journalist. They were all subjected to arrests and detentions in 2013-2016, which the European Court found to constitute a misuse of criminal law, intended to punish and silence them for their human rights and journalistic activities. The Court has also established that these cases reflected a troubling pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions of government critics, civil society activists and human rights defenders through retaliatory prosecutions and misuse of criminal law in defiance of the rule of law, and the actions of the State gave rise to a risk of further repetitive applications (Aliyev v Azerbaijan, § 223).

The signatory organisations, Free Voices Collective (FVC), the Independent Lawyers Network (ILN), the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) and the International Partnership of Human Rights (IPHR) are non-governmental human rights organisations working to advance respect for human rights. EHRAC representatives acted as legal representatives in the proceedings before the Court in a number of cases in this group.

This submission provides an update on the most recent domestic developments relevant to both individual and general measures in this group of cases. The section on individual measures includes information on the situation of applicant Anar Mammadli who faces new retaliatory trumped-up charges and likely criminal conviction with aggravated circumstances due to his currently still standing previous conviction that has not been quashed to date. The section on general measures focuses on two main issues: a) a new wave of retaliatory prosecution and misuse of criminal law against journalists, human rights defenders and other Government critics, and b) the issue of independence of the judiciary.

Click here to read the communication: RULE 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers | Anar Mammadli group cases v. Azerbaijan (18705:06).pdf