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The European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg recently announced a decision on several cases concerning the dispersal of demonstrations and protests, which took place in Azerbaijan in 2011. The decision has been made in favor of the protestant activists. The European Court ordered the Azerbaijani judges to reconsider the verdicts concerning the protesters and pay them a compensation, the website of Azerbaijani service RFE/RL reports.

According to the document published on the ECHR website, from March up to November, 2011, mass protests against corruption, unemployment and the arbitrariness of the authorities took place throughout the whole territory of Azerbaijan. It is noted that though the protests had a peaceful character, the protesters were dispersed by the authorities, and many of them were arrested later on. So, The applicants – Ilham Huseynli, a member of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Elchin Salimov and Ibrahim Ahmadzade, members of the opposition party Musavat – were arrested preventively on the eve of the protest of April 2 of the same year in order to hinder their participation in it. 

Some extracts of the “Observations on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan” introduced by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe on September 29, 2011 are presented in the document. In particular, it is noted that in March and April 2011, messages were received about illegal arrests, persecution, and violence against journalists, opposition activists, and other representatives of the civil society.

It is emphasized that despite preventions from the aforementioned European organ, the repressions went on in the country. An extract from the 2013 report of Nils Muižnieks, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, is also presented, and it is noted that for several years, the Azerbaijani authorities have been persecuting independent journalists, bloggers, and other critics of the government.

“The issue of limitations imposed on freedom of assembly has regularly been raised by local and international observers in recent years. The most frequent problems encountered include the banning of demonstrations in central and easily accessible locations and the use of force to disperse the demonstrations which still go ahead, leading to arrests and, in some cases, harsh sentences,” the extract of Muižnieks’ report reads.
According to the report of the European Commissioner, since 2006, peaceful demonstrations in Baku center of have been prohibited and the administrative punishments for participating in unauthorized mass demonstrations has been severed.

Several reports of international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also cited in the ECHR document, according to which, the authorities strengthened the attack against activists in 2011, especially during protests.

Therefore, the European Court of Human Rights held that there has been a violation of Article 11 (Freedom of assembly), Article 6 (Right to a fair trial), and Article 5 (Right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights against the Azerbaijani citizens Ilham Huseynli, Elchin Salimov, and Ibrahim Ahmadzade. The European Court held that the Azerbaijani government has to pay them compensation of 3 to 12 thousand euro, as well as about 6 thousand euro for legal fees. 

The second application concerns Agasif Ibrahimov, Emin Farhadi, and Jamil Hajyiev, participants of the Committee for Protection of Rights of Young Political Prisoners. It is noted that the committee was planning to hold a demonstration in Baku on May 22, 2011, but soon after the start of the protests, the police began to disperse and arrest the protesters. Only the police officers’ testimony was heard during the trial. The activists were sentenced to 7-8 days of administrative arrest. Some extracts of the aforementioned reports and observations of the Council of Europe, the European commissioner Muižnieks’ and international human rights organizations are also presented in the judgment of the ECHR.

It is noted that the European Court Rights held that the rights of the Azerbaijani citizens Agasif Ibrahimov, Emin Farhadi, and Jamil Hajyiev were violated. It fuirter held that the State is to pay each of the applicants 12 thousand euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage and 5600 euros in respect of costs and expenses.
On April 2, 2011, the Baku police brutally dispersed a peaceful protest, hundreds of protesters were detained and beaten. Criminal charges were brought against several oppositionists. The European Union expressed concern over the mass violations of the fundamental rights of the citizens during the dispersal of the protest and called on the authorities of Azerbaijan to immediately free all the detainees.

The authorities of Azerbaijan do not let the opposition hold any kind of protest in Baku center. Numerous attempts of opposition to organize protests in the center of Baku were severely dispersed by the police, hundreds of oppositionists were subjected to violence, and dozens were arrested. The detained participants paid penalties for their participation in the protests. In 2011, 17 youth activists and oppositionists were sentenced to various prison terms for the protests in Azerbaijan.

International human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, consider the accusations against them fabricated, and claim that the real reason of the persecutions is the participation in the demonstrations of the opposition. It was reported that international human rights organizations, as well as the European Parliament, the EU mission in Baku, the embassy of Azerbaijan and OSCE condemned the violence of the Azerbaijani police and the criminal persecution of the opposition activists.