Azerbaijani Ombudsperson calls on Parliament to revise ban on leaving country

The ban on leaving Azerbaijan should be conditioned only by a court decision; and citizens should be notified about the imposed ban on going abroad, the Ombudsperson, Sabina Alieva, believes. Activists treat her proposal submitted to the Parliament as relevant.

The Azerbaijani Ombudsperson has pointed out that citizens may be banned to leave the country because of their credit or tax debts, non-execution of court judgements and for a number of other reasons. However, those who impose the ban do not even inform people about it; and citizens learn about the ban already at the border checkpoint; and this creates problems for them.

Ms Alieva has suggested imposing such restrictions only by a court judgement, and immediately notifying citizens about it.

Natig Djavadli, a journalist of the "Meydan TV", himself faced travel restrictions. “In 2015, my colleagues and I were travelling to Georgia. At the border, we were dropped off the train because of the ban on leaving the country, which we did not even know about. After contacting various authorities, we learned that the ban had been introduced within a criminal case against the "Meydan TV", although at that time we were not even involved as witnesses," Mr Djavadli has explained.

Let us remind you that on December 13, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the rights of eleven Azerbaijani citizens to the freedom of travel had been violated. All claimants were banned from leaving the country, although they figured witnesses in criminal cases, not as suspects or defendants.