Azerbaijan May Be Withdrawn from the Council of Europe
The representatives of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe examined the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) at the “Human Rights” meeting of the Committee of Ministers held on 19-21 September. The meeting agenda also featured the 2014 ECHR judgement on the case Ilgar Mammadov v. Azerbaijan.
As a result of the discussions, the CoE has adopted an unprecedented decision over the case, giving one month to Azerbaijan to release Ilgar Mammadov, otherwise Azerbaijan may face withdrawal from the Council of Europe.
The decision reads as follows:
The Deputies
1. recalling that in the above judgment the European Court held that no facts or information had been produced giving rise to a suspicion justifying the bringing of charges against the applicant or his arrest and pre‑trial detention and that the actual purpose of these measures was to silence or punish him for criticising the government, so that the case disclosed violations of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention and Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5; recalling further that a joint press statement by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan during the investigations was found by the Court to have prejudged the assessment of the facts by the courts in violation of the presumption of innocence protected by Article 6 § 2 of the Convention;
2. recalling their previous decisions and interim resolutions, in particular, their firm determination to ensure the implementation of this judgment by actively considering using all the means at the disposal of the Organisation;
3. noted the information provided about the progress of the implementation of the Presidential Order of 10 February 2017 and invited the authorities to provide detailed information about the legislative amendments foreseen, in particular the draft amendments to the Criminal Code already transmitted to the Parliament in June 2017, for adoption during the autumn session, and those of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Execution of Sentences, which the authorities envisage to submit subsequently to the Parliament;
4. expressed their gravest concern that, almost three years after the Court’s judgment became final, Mr Mammadov remains imprisoned;
5. instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution giving formal notice to Azerbaijan, as provided for under Article 46 § 4 of the Convention, of the Committee’s intention to bring before the Court the question whether Azerbaijan has failed to fulfil its obligation under Article 46 § 1 for consideration at their 1298th (25 October 2017) meeting, should no tangible progress be made in ensuring the applicant’s release.
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