ECtHR obliges Azerbaijan to pay compensation to 11 activists

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) obliged the Azerbaijani authorities to pay 128,500 euros to activists sentenced for participating in a rally on April 2, 2011. Advocates called the amount of compensation unreasonable.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 2, in Baku, the police stopped an attempt by the "Public Chamber" movement for democracy to hold a rally with the demand of democratic reforms. 14 protesters were sentenced "for organizing and participating in public unrest" and sentenced to up to three years of imprisonment.

Today, the ECtHR has pronounced the decision in the case of "Medjidli et al. vs. Azerbaijan". The European Court recognized unlawful the arrests and prison sentences to 11 Azerbaijani activists and ordered the government of Azerbaijan to pay them the compensation in the total amount of 128,500 euros, reports the ECtHR's website.

According to lawyer Samira Agaeva, who represented the interests of two complainants, the amount of the compensation turned out to be less than in similar cases in other countries.

That fact was also confirmed by advocate Asabali Mustafaev, who represented the interests of other five complainants. "My clients were kept in prisons for a long time and they were awarded the compensation for the same amount like in other cases, to persons who served short-term administrative arrests. I believe that the complainants deserved much larger amounts of compensation, since they spent tens of months in prisons," Asabali Mustafaev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 26, 2019 at 05:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.