Azerbaijani SC decides to review cases of Mamedov and Djafarov

The Plenum of the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan will review the cases of the oppositional politician, Ilgar Mamedov, and human rights activist, Rasul Djafarov, due to "newly discovered circumstances" and the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), said the advocate, Fuad Agaev.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 26, 2019, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe called on the Azerbaijani authorities to remove convictions from eight activists, collectively known as the "Ilgar Mamedov’s group", whose rights were found to be violated by the ECtHR. Ilgar Mamedov and Rasul Djafarov are among these activists.

The issue of reviewing the cases of Mamedov and Djafarov is on the agenda of the SC Plenum session on April 23. Fuad Agaev, the advocate for Mamedov, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he and his client had received an official notification from the SC about the upcoming hearings.

Agaev has not ruled out a complete abolition of the previous sentences and court decisions in respect of Mamedov. According to his version, the criminal procedure legislation of Azerbaijan admits such cases, if a violation of rights was recognized by the Constitutional Court or the ECtHR.

Rasul Djafarov, the head of the Human Rights Club, said that his case was also included into the agenda of the Azerbaijani SC Plenum for April 23.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 15, 2020 at 11:08 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.