Azerbaijani authorities ignore ECtHR's decision on Annagi Gadjibeili's complaint

Annagi Gadjibeili, the head of the Azerbaijan Bar Association, is still under the ban on leaving the country, although the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found the ban to be a violation of his right to the freedom of travel. Mr Gadjibeili said that he could get the needed high quality treatment only abroad, as he was loosing his vision capacity. His advocate Asabali Mustafaev also complained about the inability to get efficient treatment abroad because of the ban to leave the country.

"Although there were no claims against the Bar Association, or me personally, the Bar's accounts were frozen, and I was forbidden to leave the country. For five years I've tried to get these bans abolished through the courts," said Gadjibeili.

Over these five years, the legislation has changed, and now NGOs can't actually work, he has added.

"Our Bar Association has done a lot in the sphere of legal enlightenment; we provided free legal assistance to many poor people," said Gadjibeili.

Because of the ban to leave the country, another well-known Azerbaijani lawyer, Asabali Mustafaev, also cannot receive the necessary treatment abroad. The ban on him was also introduced within the framework of the criminal case against an NGO, which has been investigated since 2014.

Mr Mustafaev also treats his removal from the lawyer's practice as unjustified.

The criminal case against the NGO has actually led to a "paralysis of the civil society," Yalchin Imanov, a legal expert, has stated.