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Human rights groups have long resented the efforts of Azerbaijan to silence critics, while the authorities of the country vehemently denied all the charges. However the day before, the European Court of Human Rights issued a strongly worded judgment of the matter, Human Rights Watch senior expert in South Caucasus Giorgi Gogia stated.

Note that yesterday the European Court of Human Rights ruled on the case of the leader of Azerbaijani opposition movement REAL Ilgar Mammadov. According to that decision, the courts in Azerbaijan had violated the rights of Ilgar Mammadov stipulated in Articles 5.1 and 5.4 (right on freedom), 6.02 (presumption of innocence), 5-18 (unjustified restriction on freedom) of the Convention on Human Rights.

For this reason, the Azerbaijani government has to pay 22,000 Euros to Mammadov as compensation.

According to HRW, Mammadov’s case is only one in a growing number of criminal cases which the Azerbaijani authorities use to silence the criticism. “Ironically, a week ago Azerbaijan took over the rotational chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – the regional organization to which the court belongs. Releasing Mammadov immediately and paying the court-imposed damages, as it’s obliged to do, is the least Azerbaijan can do to show good faith,” Giorgi Gogia emphasized.

Note that on March 17 the court sentenced the leader of the Azerbaijani opposition movement “REAL” Ilgar Mammadov to seven, and deputy chairman of the “Musavat” party Tofig Yagublu to five years’ imprisonment. They were accused of organizing riots in Ismaili in January last year. Unrests in Ismaili district began at the evening of January 23, after an accident in which the nephew of the head of the region Nizami Alekperov and son of the Minister of Labor Fizuli Alekperov - Vugar Alekperov - were involved. His car crashed into another car, Alekperov then began to insult the local residents. According to one of Ismaili residents, relative of the minister took a pack of money out of his pocket and said: “You have no dignity (geyret), I can buy your mothers and sisters for this money.” Information about the insults spread through the district and angry residents began to smash the commercial entities of Alekperov’s family up. Internal troops and Special Forces were involved in the incident. They fired rubber bullets and tear gas. As a result of clashes many people were arrested and dozens injured.

Ilgar Mammadov and a group of oppositionists who came to Ismaili on 24 January were not allowed to enter the city by the police and were sent back.

Ismaili region is located in the north of Azerbaijan and is bordered by Guba region, where in March 2012 the population rioted against lawlessness of Azerbaijani officials.