Follow-up

The unprecedented and successful use of the infringement procedure shows that our members take this obligation very seriously.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić

Following the European court’s judgment, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers called on Azerbaijan to release Ilgar without delay. 

In a second ruling, in November 2017, the European court found that Ilgar’s trial in Azerbaijan, on the same criminal charges the court had criticised in its 2014 judgment, also violated his rights.

The following month, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers referred Ilgar’s case to the European court asking whether Azerbaijan had failed to respect its obligation to implement the court’s 2014 judgment. Ilgar remained in detention, despite the Committee’s repeated calls for Azerbaijan to release him.

This was the first time the Council of Europe had launched this procedure against a member state.

Azerbaijan released Ilgar in August 2018 while the European court was considering his case. However, his conviction remained, and Ilgar continued to suffer serious personal and professional consequences.

In May 2019, the European court confirmed that Azerbaijan had failed to fully implement its 2014 ruling in Ilgar’s case.

The court underlined that the authorities’ actions had been driven by improper motives, contrary to the human rights convention, and that Azerbaijan was required to end the negative consequences that Ilgar suffered.

In response to the European court’s judgment, Azerbaijan’s supreme court re-examined Ilgar’s case and quashed his conviction in April 2020. The Committee of Ministers then closed the case.

The Committee continues to supervise a number of cases against Azerbaijan relating to the arbitrary arrest and detention of government critics, civil society activists and human rights defenders.