MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-4

2 December 2021

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

 

H46-4 Mammadli group v. Azerbaijan (Application No. 47145/14)

Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments

 

Reference document

CM/Notes/1419/H46-4

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalled that, in respect of each applicant in this group of cases, the European Court found a violation of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5 of the Convention, revealing a troubling pattern of arbitrary arrest and detention 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;

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 the present cases;

As regards individual measures

3.         noted further with satisfaction the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of 19 November 2021 which, having due regard to the European Court’s judgment in the in the case of Rashad Hasanov and Others, quashed the criminal convictions of the four applicants in that case, discontinued the criminal charges against them and awarded them compensation for unlawful arrest and imprisonment;

4.         decided, in consequence, that no further individual measures are required with respect to the applicants Rashad Hasanov, Zaur Gurbanli, Uzeyir Mammadli and Rashadat Akhundov, and adopted Final Resolution CM/ResDH(2021)426;

5.         called on the authorities to take all steps within their powers to ensure that the convictions of the remaining applicants in this group of cases are quashed without further delay;

As regards general measures

6.         underlined that the above decision of the Plenum is an important step forward in building firm domestic judicial practice as follow-up to the precedents set in the Ilgar Mammadov and Rasul Jafarov cases as a key general measure to prevent similar abuses of criminal justice in future;

7.         recalled the Committee’s previous decisions in which it called on the authorities to implement the remaining recommendations of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), notably in relation to the composition of the Judicial Legal Council and its role in safeguarding and strengthening judicial independence;

8.         noted the information on general measures provided by the authorities shortly before the meeting; and requested the Secretariat to provide a full analysis of the general measures taken so far or foreseen, in time for the Committee’s next examination at its 1428th meeting (March 2022) (DH).