Azerbaijani rights defender Jafarov sends complaint to the ECtHR against his arrest

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has accepted the complaint of the arrested Azerbaijani rights defender Rasul Jafarov against his freedom restriction measure, said his legal representative Gyunay Ismayilova.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July, Rasul Jafarov, a coordinator of the campaign "Art for Democracy", was banned from leaving Azerbaijan, and his bank accounts were arrested. On August 2, the human rights defender was arrested for three month on charges under articles "illegal entrepreneurship", "tax evasion", and "abuse of power" of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Gyunay Ismayilova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Jafarov's application was registered at the ECtHR on December 4. Lawyer is convinced that the ECtHR "will surely satisfy the complaint."

"In application of the case law, the ECtHR is strongly recommending avoiding, as much as possible, the pre-trial arrest of accused persons, and, in particular, in such cases like Rasul Jafarov's one, since he is suspected of an economic offence. The Jafarov's case is an obvious violation of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – the right to liberty and personal immunity," said Gyunay Ismayilova.

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, marked on December 10, Jafarov issued a statement calling on the Azerbaijani authorities to release all civil society activists from imprisonment.

"Only in this way we can launch a real dialogue of the authorities with the civil society, and ultimately solve the existing problems," says his statement.

Let us remind you that the Amnesty International has recognized Jafarov as "prisoner of conscience".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.