CASE OF MAMMADLI AGAINST AZERBAIJAN AND 4 OTHER CASES

Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2025)252 Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights Mammadli group of cases against Azerbaijan   (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 17 September 2025 at the 1537th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)     Application Case Judgment of Final on 47145/14 MAMMADLI 19/04/2018 19/07/2018 68762/14+ ALIYEV 20/09/2018 04/02/2019 63571/16 IBRAHIMOV AND MAMMADOV 13/02/2020 13/06/2020 30778/15 KHADIJA ISMAYILOVA (No. 2) 27/02/2020 27/06/2020 68817/14 YUNUSOVA AND YUNUSOV (No. 2) 16/07/2020 10/10/2020   The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);   Recalling that, in respect of each applicant in this group of cases, the European Court found a violation of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5 of the Convention, revealing “a troubling pattern of arbitrary arrest and detention of government critics, civil society activists and human-rights defenders through retaliatory prosecutions and misuse of criminal law in defiance of the rule of law”;   Recalling that while in several judgments which previously belonged to this group, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan adopted detailed judgments following the findings of the European Court, quashing the applicants’ convictions and awarding them compensation,[1] the cases of the remaining applicants have been pending before the Supreme Court since 2019, with no information provided since October 2022 to give any indication to the Committee as to the cause of the delay or the likely date they will be heard;   Recalling the Committee’s previous decisions and its interim resolutions exhorting the authorities to ensure that all the necessary individual measures are taken in respect of each of these applicants without any further delay, and recalling that it decided as well to continue examining this group of cases at each of its human rights (DH) meetings until all the applicants’ convictions are quashed;   Emphasising the obligation of Azerbaijan, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention, to abide fully, effectively, and promptly by the final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in any case to which they are a party:   REITERATED that the respondent state has a legal obligation to quash the remaining applicants’ convictions, to erase them from criminal records and to eliminate all other negative consequences of the criminal charges brought against them, in particular by ensuring full restoration of their civil and political rights;   REITERATED also the importance that the authorities ensure in the meantime that their impugned convictions do not have any bearing on any new criminal proceedings initiated against them;     REITERATED that implementation of the Court’s judgments is a shared responsibility of all authorities, including the judiciary;   DEPLORED the long delay in processing the present cases by the Supreme Court, which has been seized since 2019, as well as the recent lack of information and engagement from the authorities with the supervision process despite the Committee’s repeated calls, as a consequence of which the applicants continue to suffer from negative consequences of the misuse of criminal law intended to punish and silence them;   DEPLORED that, despite the Committee’s calls, the authorities have also failed to resume a constructive and results-oriented dialogue with the Secretariat to achieve the completion of the measures required in this group of cases;   EXHORTED the Azerbaijani authorities to intensify without further delay their efforts to remedy the applicants’ situation in line with the above requirements, to put an end to their silence and inaction and to adopt as a matter of urgency the long awaited individual measures;   CALLED ON the authorities, in the spirit of the Reykjavík Declaration to pursue a cooperative, dialogue-based approach, and to rapidly reengage with the Secretariat and to provide information on the envisaged measures in good time for consideration at the 1545th meeting (December 2025) (DH). [1] Ilgar Mammadov and Rasul Jafarov in April 2020, Rashad Hasanov and Others in November 2021 and Azizov and Novruzlu in September 2022