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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1501/H46-5 |
13 June 2024 |
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1501st meeting, 11-13 June 2024 (DH)
H46-5 Namazov group v. Azerbaijan (Application No. 74354/13) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference documents |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that this group concerns various violations of the Convention on account of the disciplinary proceedings against the applicants, former advocates, which resulted in their disbarment, in breach of Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention;
As regards individual measures
2. noted with concern that the applicants’ individual situations still remain unresolved four years after the judgments in their cases became final;
3. noted the Committee’s expectation that the cases in respect of the two remaining applicants will be rapidly resolved in line with the Supreme Court’s previous decision in the similar Aslan Ismayilov case in view of the authorities’ previous submissions in the present group and the applicants’ submissions under Rule 9;
4. instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution to be considered at their June 2025 (DH) meeting, if no information is submitted by the authorities on the tangible progress achieved in the individual measures required in the present cases by that meeting;
As regards general measures
5. reiterated their call on the authorities to submit a detailed analysis of the compliance of the draft law with the Convention standards, in particular as regards foreseeability and proportionality requirements under Article 10 and to consider making use of the expertise available through the Council of Europe in this regard;
6. urged the authorities to put in place sufficient safeguards to prevent undue disciplinary action against lawyers in the exercise of their professional duties and to ensure that disciplinary proceedings are carried out in line with the Convention and the respective Council of Europe standards, notably the Committee of Ministers Recommendation Rec(2000)21 on the freedom of exercise of the profession of lawyer;
7. further urged the authorities to take measures aimed at improving judicial practice concerning the judicial review of disciplinary proceedings against lawyers in order to ensure that such proceedings respect the principles of fairness and adversarial procedure, that the judicial decisions are duly reasoned and provide an effective safeguard to ensure the proportionality of the imposition of sanctions;
8. decided to resume examination of this group of cases at their DH meeting in June 2025 and invited the authorities to submit in time before June 2025 meeting a consolidated action plan addressing all the outstanding issues.