Baku court refuses to consider activist’s claim against President of Azerbaijan

When explaining his refusal to accept the claim of Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, the head of the NGO “Positive Changes” and the director of the “Human Capital Consulting” LLC, a judge has referred to the fact that the President of Azerbaijan, due to discrepancies in the claim itself, cannot act as a defendant. The activist has appealed to court again.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Bakhtiyar Gadjiev has appealed to the court and demanded to consider a violation that his Facebook page was blocked by the official page of Ilham Aliev, which is why the activist is deprived of the right to leave comments under the posts of the President of Azerbaijan.

The Sabail District Court refused to consider the Bakhtiyar Gadjiev’s claim and returned the claim to him. The refusal came from the court on August 30, Bakhtiyar Gadjiev told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, in his claim, he stated that by blocking his Facebook account, Ilham Aliev violates freedom of expression. The judge has explained his refusal by the fact that since the Facebook page of the leader of state is controlled from the presidential administration, Ilham Aliev cannot act as a defendant.

The activist reports that on August 31, he filed a second claim. Now he requests the court to involve in the case both Ilham Aliev and the presidential administration as defendants.

Bakhtiyar Gadjiev suggests that the blocking of his Facebook account on the president’s page is a violation of the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantee freedom of expression. Furthermore, he sees a violation of Article 14 (right not to be discriminated against) of the European Convention. “This is discrimination on political grounds. I was blocked because of criticizing Ilham Aliev,” Bakhtiyar Gadjiev believes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 31, 2021 at 01:09 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.