Next week, the European Court of Human Rights will announce decisions on more than 15 applications from Azerbaijan.
One of them is connected with the complaint of the chairman of the Umid party Igbal Aghazadeh about the violation of his rights in the parliamentary elections.
Earlier, the ECHR has already made decisions on violations of the electoral rights of Azerbaijani citizens.
What is the impact of the ECHR judgments, other than the payment of compensation to the applicants? To what extent is the Azerbaijani government implementing these decisions? MP Fazil Mustafa, in an interview with Turan, noted that court decisions regarding violation of property rights or illegal arrests are usually executed by the Azerbaijani government. Claimants are paid compensation.
There are examples of the acquittal of convicted activists, and in particular, the case with the activists of the REAL party and the NIDA movement. With regard to violations of voting rights, the government usually limits itself to payment of compensation.
“It is impossible to return the process back, after the elections 2-3 years pass, there is a deputy from this constituency. He can also challenge the violation of his rights in court. Therefore, the most correct thing is compensation,” Mustafayev said.
Lawyer Asabali Mustafayev told Turan that since 2005 the ECHR has adopted more than 100 decisions on complaints about violations of election rights in Azerbaijan.
Most of the complaints concern election commissions and the rules for handling complaints. “We have proven that commissions are formed in such a way that they are inevitably influenced by the government. As for the consideration of complaints, they do not meet the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights, ”said the lawyer.
“Unfortunately, since 2005, the government has been content with only paying compensation, ignoring demands to change the procedure for the formation of election commissions, consideration of complaints, and the very electoral practice in the country,” the lawyer said.