Briefing: Judgments of the ECtHR pending implementation concerning victims of political repression in Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey

Last week, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) and the European Implementation Network (EIN) held an online briefing on the topic of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights pending implementation concerning victims of political repression in Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey. 

This briefing to officials from the Council of Europe Member States and the EU concerned insights and recommendations from various members of civil society involved in political repression cases, including victims, lawyers, and NGO leaders. While the theme of the briefing focused on political repression in Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey, presentations specifically covered four different cases: Navalny, Kavala, Demirtaş, and the Mammadli group. 

The briefing began with Pepijn Gerrits, Executive Director, NHC; and Professor Philip Leach, Director of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre and Vice-Chair of the European Implementation Network welcoming participants and introducing the sessions. Next, a presentation was given by Ilgar Mammadov, Chairperson of the Republican Alternative Party (Azerbaijan), former political prisoner, and applicant in the only ECHR infringement proceedings to date, on the lessons learnt from his own case in the implementation of ECtHR cases concerning victims of politically motivated prosecution. 

Then a presentation on the case of Alexei Navalny (Navalnyy and Ofitserov v Russian Federation (46632/13); (Navalnyye v Russian Federation, (101/15), was given by the legal representative of Mr. Navalny. This was followed by a presentation by Professor Köksal Bayraktar, legal representative of Mr. Kavala, and Emma Sinclair-Webb, Europe and Central Asia Associate Director, Human Rights Watch, also regarding the case of Osman Kavala (Kavala v Turkey, 28749/18). The case of Selahattin Demirtaş (Selahattin Demirtaş No 2, 14305/17) was then presented by Mr. Demirtaş’ legal representative Benan Molu.

The final presentation focused on Azerbaijani politicians, human rights lawyers, journalists and activists’ cases subjected to political persecution, and was given by Anar Mammadli, Chairperson of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, one of the applicant in the Mammadli group of cases v Azerbaijan (47145/14 and others). The briefing concluded with an open discussion, allowing participants to ask questions and deepen their understanding of the presentations given.

We would like to thank all those who were able to join the briefing, especially those who presented on these important cases. We hope that this briefing will help promote and encourage the full implementation of these cases.

For information about the NHC, visit their website at https://www.nhc.nl/, follow them on Twitter @NHC_nl, Facebook or LinkedIn, and/or subscribe to their newsletter.