Opposition politician Ilgar Mammadov kept as political prisoner

Photo credit: the Council of Europe

Ilgar Mammadov v. Azerbaijan (App.15172/13)

• Case briefing note (includes material on other cases)

• Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

The case concerns the arrest and detention of the applicant, an opposition politician, in violation of Articles 5, 6 and 18 of the Convention. The ECtHR concluded inter alia that the applicant was arrested for reasons other than those permitted by Article 5, namely to silence or punish the applicant for having criticized the Azerbaijani government.

The case was presented by human rights defender and chair of the Human Rights Club, Rasul Jafarov, whose arrest and pre-trial detention the ECtHR has also found politically motivated in his case Rasul Jafarov v Azerbaijan (App. 69981/14).

Mr Mammadov won a series of cases at the European Court of Human Rights and was released in August 2018. In April 2020 Mr Mammadov was issued with a full acquittal by the Azerbaijan Supreme Court, with an award of compensation. This restored his right to run in elections. The supervision of his case was closed on 01/09/2020. As of April 2020, other Azerbaijani victims of political persuction identified by the European Court of Human Rights still wait for justice (including Anar Mammaldi and Intigam Aliyev).