The ECHR found the ban on Ismayilova's departure from Azerbaijan to be a violation.

The Strasbourg Court ordered compensation for Khadija Ismayilova's unlawful ban on leaving Azerbaijan. The journalist's defense called the ECHR decision an important precedent in disputes over travel restrictions.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in December 2016, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan upheld the travel ban on Khadija Ismayilova, who was serving a suspended sentence. In September 2017, Khadija Ismayilova asked the court to allow her to travel to Latvia to participate in journalism courses, but due to delays in making a decision on this issue, she filed a complaint with the ECHR.

The ECHR ordered the Azerbaijani authorities to pay the journalist compensation.

The European Court of Human Rights today announced its decision on Khadija Ismayilova's complaint regarding the violation of her right to freedom of movement.

As noted in the court's verdict, which was translated into Russian by a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, in May 2016 her prison term was replaced with a suspended sentence, which entailed an automatic ban on leaving Azerbaijan.

Ismayilova's attempts to challenge this ban in national courts were unsuccessful, despite the evidence she provided that she needed to travel for professional and personal reasons, including participation in international conferences and accompanying his mother to Turkey for treatment.

The ECHR found that the automatic imposition of a ban without an assessment of the specific circumstances is inconsistent with the principle of proportionality and violates Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of movement. The Strabourg Court noted that the existence of a suspended sentence cannot automatically justify restricting travel rights.

The court ordered the Azerbaijani government to pay Ismayilova €10,000 in compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, as well as €2,000 to cover legal costs.

Lawyer calls ECHR decision an important precedent

The ECHR confirmed the unlawfulness of restricting Ismayilova's freedom of movement, her lawyer, Fariz Namazli, commented on the court's decision.

"A measure restricting the departure of persons who have not yet fully served a suspended sentence may have legitimate aims, such as maintaining public order and preventing crime. However, was the travel restriction in Ismayilova's case 'necessary in a democratic society'?" "The ECHR emphasized that criminal liability alone and the lack of rehabilitation are not sufficient grounds for restricting travel rights," Namazly told a Caucasian Knot correspondent.

In this case, he said, the local courts failed to properly assess the proportionality of the travel restrictions and failed to provide justification. Specifically, they failed to explain why the travel ban was necessary to monitor the execution of a suspended sentence during the probationary period, Namazly noted.

He noted that Ismayilova provided sufficient evidence to the local courts that she was required to accompany her now-deceased mother to surgery, and on other occasions, she had been invited to prestigious international forums.

"The ECHR concluded that the local courts failed to assess the fair balance between the public interest and freedom of movement." “Such a harsh and automatic approach does not comply with the requirement of Article 2 of Protocol No. 4, according to which any interference with a person’s right to leave the country must be justified and proportionate from the outset and throughout its entire period of application,” Namazli stated.

He drew attention to the fact that in January 2026, the ECHR had already found unlawful the criminal prosecution of the journalist in 2014-2016, under which she was sentenced to a real and then a suspended sentence, and this decision already meant, in retrospect, that the restrictions on her right to leave the country were illegal.

In his opinion, the new ECHR decision in the Ismayilova case is an important precedent for the protection of freedom of movement in Azerbaijan, which can subsequently be referred to by people challenging the restrictions on their right to leave the country.

The lawyer also pointed out that in In 2024, Ismayilova again faced a travel ban in connection with the Toplum TV criminal case, despite being called as a witness. Despite the completion of the investigation and the transfer of the case to court, the ban remains in effect.

Azerbaijan's authorized representative to the ECHR, Chingiz Askerov, was unavailable for comment, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported.

The ECHR has previously made several rulings in Ismayilova's favor. Thus, in October 2025, the court found a violation of Ismayilova's rights in a defamation case and ordered the Azerbaijani government to pay her €5,100 in compensation.

In May 2020, the ECHR upheld Ismayilova's complaint against the Azerbaijani government, finding a violation of her rights and ordering her to pay €4,500 in compensation for non-pecuniary damage. In January 2019, the ECHR also upheld Ismayilova's complaint regarding interference with her privacy. The ECHR found violations of the journalist's rights and ordered her to pay €16,750 in compensation.