11:30, 30 September 2019

CoE demands from Azerbaijan to cancel activists' convictions

A participant of the rally in Baku demands to release political prisoners. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the "Caucasian Knot"

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to withdraw convictions from eight activists, whose rights violations were recognized by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 10, 2019, the trial of Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party was postponed. The party leadership said that the authorities were deliberately delaying the trial. On August 13, Mamedov returned home.

Ilgar Mamedov was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of organizing protests of residents of the city of Ismayilli.

The CoE's Committee of Ministers has called on Azerbaijan to annul the verdicts passed to the group of applicants named "Ilgar Mamedov's group".

"The group consists of government critics, activists and human rights defenders persecuted by Azerbaijani authorities," the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) has stated.

It is clarified that Intigam Aliev and Rasul Djafarov are persecuted "for their activeness."

"Both were arrested on falsified charges in 2014," the EHRAC has added.

Rasul Djafarov, the head of the Human Rights Club, has noted that although all the applicants to the ECtHR are now back at large, they still have their criminal record un-removed and other rights restrictions in force.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 29, 2019 at 01:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent