ECtHR has communicated complaints of eight Azerbaijani journalists

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has combined the complaints of Zamin Gadji, Afghan Mukhtarly, Khakimeldostu Mekhtiev, Ilgar Nasibov, Ramid Ibragimov, Etimad Budagov, Idrak Abbasov and Taplyg Farkhadoglu into one proceeding, and sent questions to the Azerbaijani government on the unified case.

The journalists' applications reported violations of the rights guaranteed by Articles 3 (prohibition of torture) and 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Now, the government has three months to answer the ECtHR's questions, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The complaints that the ECtHR has communicated concern the use of violence against journalists in Azerbaijan in the period from 2008 to 2014, an expert of the Institute of Media Law has explained. The ECtHR has combined these complaints into one case because of their similarity, Mr Agaliev has noted.

"In all the cases we saw the use of force against journalists in connection with their professional activities, which is a clear violation of the right to the freedom of expression and the right not to be tortured. Criminal cases were either not initiated or initiated, but stopped; and courts failed to satisfy the applicants' complaints about law enforcers' inaction," Mr Agaliev has explained.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.