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ECHR passes decision on Azerbaijan

03 December 2009 16:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova â€“ APA. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has passed one more decision on Azerbaijan, APA reports quoting ECHRâ€™s official website. The applicant, Miraziz Mirasgar oglu Seyidzade, is an Azerbaijani national who was born in 1949 and lives in Baku. He was denied nomination as a candidate for the November 2005 parliamentary elections on the grounds that his activities as a clergyman were incompatible with the electoral code. Relying principally on Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections), he complains that the rejection of his nomination was arbitrary, as he had resigned from all positions which could be considered professional religious activity. Mr Seyidzade held the following positions: head of the education department of the Caucasus Muslims Board (Qafqaz MÃ¼sÉ™lmanlar Ä°darÉ™si, the official governing body of Muslim religious organisations in Azerbaijan), member of the Qazi (Islamic Judgesâ€™) Council (QazÄ±lar ÅžurasÄ±) of the Caucasus Muslims Board, and director of the Sumgayit branch of Baku Islamic University. He was also a founder and editor-in-chief of â€œKelamâ€, a journal with Islamic religious content.
The Court noted that the applicant had resigned from all his positions which could have been interpreted as â€œprofessional religious activityâ€ believing that this would have made him eligible to stand for election.
Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded the applicant 7,500 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 1,000 less EUR 850 granted to the applicant by way of legal aid for costs and expenses.