On October 14, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided to fine Azerbaijan in the amount of 24,900 euros. The case concerns the complaints of the Resource Center for Democracy and Human Rights and the head of this NGO, lawyer Asabali Mustafayev.
Lawyer Khalid Agaliyev told Turan that in the framework of a criminal case against a number of local and foreign NGOs, which began in 2014, the bank accounts of this NGO and Mustafayev himself were frozen.
The local courts did not satisfy the applicants’ complaints and they applied to the ECHR with a request to recognize the violation of their property rights. Mustafayev was also banned from leaving the country.
The applicants considered that the restrictions against them had a political content, as they were introduced as part of a criminal prosecution campaign launched by the authorities against human rights defenders and NGOs with the aim of paralyzing their activities in the country.
The ECHR found in this case a violation of property rights, the right to effective legal remedies, freedom of movement, as well as Article 18 (“Limits on the use of restrictions on rights”) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms.
The European Court decided to pay the NGO Resource Center for Democracy and Human Rights compensation in the amount of 8 thousand euros, and Mustafayev – 15 thousand euros and another 1900 euros to reimburse legal costs.