ECtHR upholds complaints of Azerbaijani oppositionists against CEC decisions of 2005

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced its decision on the lawsuits of the four candidates in the parliamentary elections of 2005 in Azerbaijan, the decision of the central Election Commission (CEC) to cancel the election results was declared unlawful.

Let us remind you that in 2005, in the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, according to the protocols received from electoral precincts, Ali Kerimli, Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Arif Gadjily, the head of the central office of the "Musavat" Party, Gulamgusein Alibeili, Chairman of the "Aidynlar" (Intellectuals) Party, and Sardar Mamedov (Djalaloglu), the leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA), were leading in their precincts. However, the results of elections in the electoral precincts of Arif Gadjily and Sardar Mamedov were cancelled by the CEC, and the results in the electoral precincts of Ali Kerimli and Gulamgusein Alibeili were cancelled by the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan. The oppositionists treated those decisions as unlawful and challenged them at the ECtHR.

Today, it became known that the Strasbourg ECtHR upheld the oppositionists' lawsuits against the government of Azerbaijan. This was told to "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Asabali Mustafaev, the lawyer of Arif Gadjily, with reference to receipt of formal notification from the ECtHR.

According to the lawyer, the ECtHR found violation of the applicants' rights guaranteed by Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 3 (violations of right to free elections) of Protocol 1 of the Convention.

The ECtHR ruled to pay to the applicants compensations totalling to 59,200 euros: to Kerimli 30,500 euros, including 20,000 euros for pecuniary damage, 7500 euros for moral damage, 3000 euros for legal services; to Alibeili 10,500 euros, including 7500 euros for moral damage, 3000 for legal services; to Gadjily and Mamedov 9100 euros for each person, including 7500 euros for moral damage and 1600 euros for legal services.

The lawyer Asabali Mustafaev treated the ECtHR's decision as "recognition of violations of the law committed during the parliamentary elections in 2005."

However, the lawyer refrained from evaluating the verdict with regard to his client Gadjily till visit to him. The fact is that Arif Gadjily is currently in prison. In October, he was sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment on charges of violating public order during the rally held on April 2, 2011.

Gulamgusein Alibeili also called the ECtHR's decision "recognition of falsification of the parliamentary elections." At the same time, he stated that the ECtHR's decision was only "a moral comfort", since it was "violation of right not be restored."

Sardar Mamedov, the DPA's leader, despite the fact that the ECtHR had satisfied his third complaint already, expressed his dissatisfaction with the verdict of the Strasbourg ECtHR.

"The amount of compensation is a little more than 9000 euros, and it fails to amount even to 30 percent of the annual salary of the deputy of the Parliament of Azerbaijan. Moreover, the amount is lower than it was in a similar case on the parliamentary elections of 2005. In that case, the applicant was paid compensation in the amount of 60,000 euros (the case of the singer Flora Kerimova, - note of the 'Caucasian Knot')," states Sardar Mamedov, who intends to appeal to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR.

According to him, by making soft decisions, "the ECtHR encourages the Azerbaijani government to human rights violations."