MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-3

2 December 2021

1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)

 

H46-3 Mahmudov and Agazade group v. Azerbaijan (Application No. 35877/04)

Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments

 

Reference document

CM/Notes/1419/H46-3

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalled that these cases concern mainly violations of the applicant journalists’ right to freedom of expression, the imposition of disproportionate criminal sanctions on journalists for defamation and arbitrary application of other provisions of the Criminal Code to limit freedom of expression as well as breaches by the Public Prosecutor’s service and the executive authorities of the right to presumption of innocence;

2.         noted with satisfaction that, in response to the Committee’s previous decisions, the Azerbaijani authorities have engaged in high-level dialogue with the Secretariat with a view to achieving tangible progress in these cases; 

As regards the individual measures

3.         invited the authorities to inform the Committee about the outstanding issues in Tagiyev and Huseynov and Hasanov cases;

As regards the general measures

4.         invited the authorities, as regards the imposition of disproportionate criminal sanctions for defamation, to provide statistical information for the period between 2016 and 2020 concerning: 1) the number of prosecutions initiated under Articles 147 (defamation) and 148 (insult); 2) the number of those prosecutions which resulted in convictions and the nature of sentence imposed; 3) the number of prosecutions which resulted in acquittals;

5.         further invited the authorities to provide detailed information on the ongoing reforms in the context of the Presidential Order on “Deepening the reforms in the field of media”, including possible measures aimed at amending the legislation on defamation to remove lengthy prison sentences;

6.         noted with interest the preparation of the Draft Law on Media and invited the authorities to cooperate with the Council of Europe, with a view to ensuring that its provisions are in line with the Convention requirements;

7.         noted the information provided by the authorities as regards the arbitrary application of other provisions of the Criminal Code to limit freedom of expression, and called on the authorities to continue taking concrete measures aimed at protecting journalists against arbitrary criminal prosecution in line with the Council of Europe standards, in particular by ensuring that domestic judicial practice remains compliant with the Convention and the case-law of the European Court;

8.         noted the measures taken so far by the authorities as regards violations by the Public Prosecutor’s Service and the executive of the right to presumption of innocence, however bearing in mind the repetition of similar violations; called on the authorities to take additional targeted measures to improve the practice of the prosecution in this regard to ensure that the statements made by the prosecution authorities and public officials respect the requirements of Article 6 § 2;

9.         requested the authorities to provide the above information in good time for the Committee’s next examination at their 1443rd meeting (September 2022) (DH).