26 December 2015, 02:06
Nine international organizations support Khadija Ismayilova's case at ECtHR
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has been addressed by nine international journalist and human rights organizations, which requested to take them as a third party in the proceedings in the case of Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova.
On September 1 the Baku Court of Grave Crimes convicted Ismayilova and sentenced her to 7.5 years in prison. The journalist was found guilty of illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, misappropriation, embezzlement and abuse of power. The defence appealed against the sentence. On November 25, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) dismissed the complaint of Khadija Ismayilova and upheld the verdict of guilty.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 8, the ECtHR accepted as a priority the complaint about the pre-trial arrest of Khadija Ismayilova. Advocates complained about the violation of the journalist's rights under Articles 5 (right to liberty and security), 6 (right to a fair trial), 10 (right to freedom of expression), and 18 (inadmissibility of excess of the restrictions permitted under the Convention to the said rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECtHR has provided the Azerbaijani government with the time to answer questions concerning the case until January 15, 2016.
According to the ECtHR, the organizations "Article 19", "International Media Support" (IMS), "PEN International", "International Partnership for Human Rights" (IPHR), and "The Committee to Protect Journalists" (CPJ) are to submit their written comments until January 19, 2016. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Fariz Namazly, an advocate of Khadija Ismayilova.
Besides, according to the Strasbourg Court, until January 21, 2016, the comments on the Khadija Ismayilova's case are to be submitted by such international human rights organization as "Freedom Now", "Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights" (HFHR), "Human Rights House Foundation", and "International Partnership for Human Rights", which have also expressed their desire to take part in the proceedings in the case as a third party.
"At present, we do not have any information whether the Azerbaijani government has responded to the ECtHR's request or not," advocate Fariz Namazly has explained.
According to Fariz Namazly, when influential international organizations join the proceedings in the case as a third party, they will strengthen the defence position concerning the political nature of the Khadija Ismayilova's arrest.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
