ECtHR communicates Mukhtarly's complaint about his detention in Baku

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has started a communication on the complaint of the convicted Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarly about his detention for a protest action in Baku in the spring of 2011.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 12, the court sentenced Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarly to six years of imprisonment on the charges of illegal border crossing, smuggling and rendering resistance to a public official. Afghan Mukhtarly himself pleaded not guilty.

Afghan Mukhtarly's advocate received an official notification of the start of the communication by the ECtHR on May 5, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Afghan Mukhtarly's complaint claim violations of his rights under Articles 3 (prohibition of torture) and 5 (the right to freedom and personal inviolability) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Fariz Namazly, one of Afghan's advocates, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, adding that the Azerbaijani government has three months to answer the ECtHR's questions.

The advocate has also noted that the ECtHR had completed the communication on Mukhtarly's complaint about his arrest in May 2017. As he said, this complaint is at the stage of adoption and announcement of the decision.

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