Rule 9.2 Communication on the Namat Aliyev group of cases v. Azerbaijan (18705/06)

On 31 October 2025, Free Voices Collective submitted a Rule 9.2 communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe concerning the Namat Aliyev group of cases v. Azerbaijan (Application No. 18705/06). The submission was registered for examination ahead of the Committee’s 1545th Human Rights (DH) meeting scheduled for December 2025.

The communication addresses the continued non-execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights relating to violations of the right to free elections under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. It highlights the absence of meaningful progress by the Azerbaijani authorities since the Committee’s previous review in December 2024, despite long-standing and repeated findings of structural deficiencies in Azerbaijan’s electoral framework.

The Rule 9.2 Communication Namat Aliyev Azerbaijan recalls that the Court found that opposition and independent candidates were arbitrarily denied registration, their electoral complaints were dismissed without proper examination, and domestic courts failed to provide effective judicial review. Electoral commissions operated without independence or impartiality, rendering the applicants’ right to stand for election illusory in practice. These violations have remained unremedied for over 15 years, despite sustained supervision by the Committee of Ministers.

Key concerns raised in the submission

The Rule 9.2 communication stresses that:

• No individual measures have been adopted to restore the applicants’ electoral rights, including reopening or re-examining their electoral complaints;

• Outstanding just satisfaction payments remain unpaid in two cases;

• The 2024 parliamentary elections confirmed the persistence of the same systemic flaws identified by the Court, including the dominance of the ruling party within election commissions;

• Electoral complaints continue to be handled in a formalistic and opaque manner, with unreasoned and template-based decisions;

• Judicial review remains ineffective, failing to engage with evidence or provide meaningful remedies;

• The Azerbaijani authorities have not introduced legislative or institutional reforms addressing the structural shortcomings identified by the Court, the Committee of Ministers, or the Venice Commission.

Free Voices Collective’s recommendations to the Committee of Ministers

Individual measures

Free Voices Collective calls on the Committee of Ministers to urge the Azerbaijani authorities to:

• Proceed without delay to the payment of all outstanding just satisfaction;

• Adopt urgent measures enabling full redress for the individual applicants, including restoring their effective right to stand in elections;

• Provide concrete mechanisms for reopening or reviewing electoral complaints found to be in violation of the Convention.

General measures

The submission further calls for decisive action to:

• Implement comprehensive electoral reforms in line with the Court’s judgments;

• Ensure political balance and pluralism in the composition of election commissions at all levels;

• Establish independent expert and working groups for the examination of electoral complaints;

• Guarantee transparent, reasoned, and adversarial adjudication of election-related disputes by domestic courts;

• Align electoral legislation and practice with recommendations of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR.

Given the prolonged failure to implement these measures, the communication urges the Committee of Ministers to maintain enhanced supervision of the Namat Aliyev group of cases and to consider the preparation of an interim resolution should no tangible progress be achieved by the next examination.

Click here to read the submission: Rule 9.2 Communication on the Namat Aliyev group of cases v. Azerbaijan (18705/06)

See our previous submission on the Khadija Ismayilova group of cases v. Azerbaijan.