European Court fines Azerbaijan for blocking four media outlets
European court rulings on Azerbaijan
On June 13, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued two more rulings on complaints from Azerbaijan. The first case concerns the blocking of websites of four media outlets, while the second involves those arrested in the “Nardaran events.” In total, the Azerbaijani authorities have been fined €77,500 for these two cases.
- Abzas Media staff in Azerbaijan face extended detention, editor reports mistreatment
- Activist in Tbilisi beaten an hour after criticism from Parliament Speaker on social media
- Abzas Media staff in Azerbaijan face extended detention, editor reports mistreatment
“RFE/RL Inc. (Radio Liberty) and others v. Azerbaijan”
The court recognized the violations claimed by the four blocked media outlets. These include Radio Liberty (azadliq.org), Azer Talibov, founder and editor of the online news portal anaxeber.az, Vugar Alakbarov, founder of the news website az24saat.org, and Avaz Zeynalli, editor-in-chief of the site xural.com.
In 2017-2018, amendments were made to the Law on Information, Informatization, and Protection of Information and the Code of Administrative Offenses, which altered the rules regarding the dissemination of information.
Following these changes, access to the online media of the four Azerbaijani applicants was completely blocked.
Local courts based their decisions on these legislative amendments.
The applicants argued that the purpose of the blockage was not to prevent the spread of illegal content but to prevent the dissemination of any content critical of the government.
The applicants claimed that their rights under Articles 6, 10, 13, and 18 of the Convention had been violated.
The European Court concluded that the media blockages violated their right to freedom of expression.
According to the court’s decision, the government must pay each of the four applicants €5,000 as compensation for moral damages.
Additionally, the leaders of the sites anaxeber.az, az24saat.org, and xural.com are to be awarded €1,000 each for legal costs.
The decision also includes the unblocking of the online resources.
The applicants were represented at the ECHR by lawyers Elchin and Zibeyda Sadigova.
“Zakir Mustafayev and others v. Azerbaijan”
The case “Zakir Mustafayev and others v. Azerbaijan” involved allegations of torture and inhumane treatment during their detention following the “Nardaran events” of 2015.
In November 2015, a clash occurred between police officers and local residents in the Nardaran settlement on the outskirts of Baku. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of seven people (two police officers and five villagers), four injuries, and fourteen arrests.
The applicants claimed they were tortured to extract confessions.
They cited violations of Articles 3 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, alleging they suffered various injuries, were denied access to their chosen lawyers, and their families were not informed of their arrests.
The ECHR found that Article 3 of the Convention had been violated in relation to each applicant.
The court also ruled that the material aspect of Article 3 was violated concerning Abbas Huseynov, Alibala Valiev, Abbas Guliyev, Rasim Jabrailov, and Ali Nuriyev.
According to the court’s decision, the government must pay €7,500 each to Abbas Huseynov, Alibala Valiev, Abbas Guliyev, Rasim Jabrailov, and Ali Nuriyev, and €5,000 each to Zakir Mustafayev and Ramin Yariyev.
Additionally, each applicant is to be compensated €1,000 for legal costs.
The applicants were represented at the ECHR by lawyers Elchin and Zibeyda Sadigova, Nemat Kerimli, Fariz Namazli, and Yalchin Imanov.
