Azerbaijan fails to pay compensation awarded by ECtHR to jailed journalists

The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) refuses to pay the monetary compensation in the amount of 27,880 euros to the imprisoned journalists Einullah Fatullaev, due to him in accordance with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Elchin Sadygov, the journalist's advocate, that earlier Emin Fatullaev, Einullah's father could not receive the compensation because the money was transferred to the account of the newspaper "Gyundelik Azerbaijan" (Azerbaijan Daily) headed by Einullah Fatullaev; however, the account was blocked under the court verdict of 2007. In November 2010 this verdict was cancelled under decision of the ECtHR. Nevertheless, the journalist was not paid the compensation under the pretext that the money was transferred to the arrested account of the edition.

Lawyer Sadygov described the actions of the IBA as "unwillingness of the authorities" to pay the compensation established by the ECtHR, which is non-execution of decisions of the Strasbourg Court and violation of the Azerbaijani commitments before the Council of Europe (CoE). In this regard, the lawyer plans to inform the CoE's Committee of Ministers, which plans to discuss on March 10 the observance of the ECtHR's decision on Fatullaev's case.

The correspondent has failed to get any comments at the IBA - telephone calls to the bank's press service remained unanswered. Other divisions of the IBA urged to contact the press service.

Meanwhile, the international group of journalists and human rights organizations has reiterated its call upon the CoE's Committee of Ministers to demand, at its session on March 8-10, from the Azerbaijani government to immediately release Fatullaev from his imprisonment.

Representatives of Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, "Censorship Index" and the Azerbaijani Institute of Media Rights were delegated to the Council of Europe on March 1-3 in order to convey to the members of the Committee of Ministers their concern about the Azerbaijan's refusal to execute the decision of the ECtHR on Fatullaev.

However, the Azerbaijani authorities reject every criticism in connection with Fatullaev's case.