Defence criticizes compensation amount for violating Azerbaijani journalist's rights

On January 18, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found rights violation of Mushvig Guseinov, a correspondent of the "Bizim Yol" newspaper under Articles 5.3 (right to liberty and personal security) and 6.2 (right to fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and obliged the Azeri authorities to pay him 4000 euros of compensation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in January 2008, Mushvig Guseinov was sentenced to 6 years in prison on charges of taking a bribe from an employee of the Ministry of Labour. Later, the court reduced the term down to 5 years. In December 2009, Guseinov was pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan.

Samira Agaeva, an advocate, has explained that the ECtHR found violation of Guseinov's rights under Article 5.3, because he had served an unreasonably long pre-trial detention term in custody.

In Samira Agaeva's opinion, the amount of compensation is too low as "Guseinov undermined his health in custody and his tuberculosis worsened there. "Unfortunately, the ECtHR failed to take this into account," the advocate has explained, adding that the ECtHR has also failed to award compensation of judicial costs.

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