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Jean-Paul Costa: â€œHuman Rights violations do not always result from domestic judicial decisions in Azerbaijanâ€-EXCLUSIVE

Jean-Paul Costa: â€œHuman Rights violations do not always result from domestic judicial decisions in Azerbaijanâ€<font color=red>-EXCLUSIVE</font>

30 April 2008 18:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Tamara Grigoryeva â€“ APA. President of the European Court on Human Rights Jean-Paul Costa gave an interview to APA

-How many complaints have there been in the last three months overall? From which countries do most complaints come?

-Since the beginning of 2008, the Court has received approximately 16,000 new applications. Out of those, around 70 applications came from Azerbaijan.

More than half of the applications lodged with the Court come from five states: Russia, Turkey, Romania, Ukraine and Poland.

-How many appeals to the European Court have been received from Azerbaijan since the country joined the jurisdiction?

-Since the Conventionâ€™s entry into force in Azerbaijan, the Court has received about 1,600 applications against Azerbaijan. That number includes applications which have already been examined by the Court (about 600) as well as applications which are currently pending the Courtâ€™s decision (about 1,000). It does not include any applications disposed of in an administrative manner.

-Could you please give information about the number of appeals from Azerbaijan accepted by ECHR? How many of them were implemented? Is it possible that that number will increase in the near future?

-So far, the Court has declared inadmissible about 570 applications concerning Azerbaijan in a Committee decision. The Court has delivered 13 judgments and 33 Chamber decisions on admissibility/inadmissibility/striking off. Currently, 34 applications have been communicated to the Government.

-Does the Court watch the implementation of the court decisions from Azerbaijan? Are you satisfied with the implementation process?

-The execution of the Courtâ€™s judgments is part of the remit of the Committee of Ministers, the executive arm of the Council of Europe, which set up the European Court of Human Rights. The Committee of Ministers meets regularly to check that the various Member States of the Council of Europe have implemented the Courtâ€™s judgments. Judgments remain on its books until the Committee of Ministers is satisfied that they have been implemented. Where a country delays execution of a judgment, other countries can exert political pressure.

-The Azerbaijani Government says it is not pleased with some of the decisions of the ECHR. What is your opinion of that?

-We have received no official information indicating that the Government is â€œnot pleasedâ€ with any of the Courtâ€™s decisions.

-How can you describe the situation regarding the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights in Azerbaijan?

-Azerbaijan is bound by its obligations under the Convention which is an international treaty to which Azerbaijan is a party. As such, the Convention also forms an integral part of Azerbaijani law. The State is therefore obligated to respect the provisions of the Convention.

The Court, as a judicial organ, is called upon to examine individual violations of the Convention on a case-by-case basis. The Courtâ€™s judgments concerning Azerbaijan reveal specific violations of human rights and will gradually help to improve the general human rights situation in the country.

Azerbaijan is one of the newest members of the Council of Europe; it ratified the Convention only 6 years ago (15 April 2002). It may therefore take some time to bring domestic law and practice into compliance with the requirements of the Convention.

-Do the Azerbaijani courts follow the European Convention on Human Rights in their decisions? Which is the article of the European Convention on Human Rights that the Azerbaijani courts break most often?

-As the Convention is directly applicable in Azerbaijan, the national courts may rely on the Convention and the Courtâ€™s case-law in their judgments. From the information available to us, it is rare for the Azerbaijani courts to rely directly on the Convention in their decisions. However, the proceedings in the domestic courts, their decisions, as well as the other domestic authoritiesâ€™ actions must meet the Convention standards and be consistent with the Courtâ€™s case-law.

As for human rights violations, they do not always result from domestic judicial decisions. So far, in its judgments concerning applications from Azerbaijani applicants, the Court has found the following violations:

-of Article 3 (prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) of the Convention, concerning the lack of adequate medical treatment in prison;
- of Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the Convention, concerning lack of access to a court;
- of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the Convention, concerning unjustified delays in state registration of non-governmental organisations;
- of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention, concerning the lack of an effective domestic remedy concerning the length of the proceedings;
- of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the Convention, concerning the unlawful interference with the applicantâ€™s property rights.

-Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs sent a few complains to ECHR against Armenia. Some of them are now accepted, will any more of them be accepted in the near future? When will the ECHR look through those issues? How many appeals concern that issue?

There are more than 500 applications against Armenia lodged by Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). One of those applications has been communicated to the Armenian Government. That application may possibly serve as a â€œpilotâ€ case for other similar applications. At this stage, it is impossible to indicate even an approximate date for when the Court will complete the examination of those applications.