Actualités
In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Ilgar Mammadov v. Azerbaijan (application no. 15172/13), which is not final1, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:
a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights;
a violation of Article 5 § 4 (right to judicial review of one’s detention);
a violation of Article 6 § 2 (presumption of innocence); and
a violation of Article 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights).
The case concerned the arrest and detention pending trial of an opposition politician and blogger following his reports on street protests in the town of Ismayilli in January 2013. The Court considered that Mr Mammadov, who had a history of criticising the Government, had been arrested and detained without any evidence to reasonably suspect him of having committed the offence with which he was charged, namely that of having organised actions leading to public disorder. The Court concluded that the actual purpose of his detention had been to silence or punish Mr Mammadov for criticising the Government and publishing information it was trying to hide.
