{"id":1992,"date":"2017-09-01T11:16:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T10:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rcstaging.co.uk\/ehrac\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2021-04-08T23:02:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T22:02:27","slug":"rasul-jafarov-experts-opinion-cm","status":"publish","type":[30],"link":"http:\/\/ehrac.org.uk\/en_gb\/rasul-jafarov-experts-opinion-cm\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasul Jafarov submits expert\u2019s opinion to Committee of Ministers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
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Rasul Jafarov (Credit:
People in Need\u2019s
\u201cDoubling Down
on Repression\u201d
exhibition.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Lawyers for prominent human rights defender Rasul Jafarov have today asked the Council of Europe\u2019s Committee of Ministers to\u00a0call on the Azerbaijani authorities to reopen the proceedings into his criminal conviction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jafarov, the founder and chair of the Human Rights Club, was imprisoned for his activism in 2014 along with many other activists. In 2016,\u00a0the European Court of Human Rights ruled<\/a>\u00a0that his arrest and detention had been politically motivated to silence him. However, Azerbaijan\u2019s courts have refused to reopen the domestic proceedings which led to his conviction and imprisonment. As a result of his conviction, Mr Jafarov has been restricted in his work, faces more serious punishment if convicted of other offences, and cannot be a member of the Azerbaijani Bar Association or stand for elections until 2021.<\/p>\n

On 1 September 2017, his lawyer Khalid Baghirov and the\u00a0European Human Rights Advocacy Centre<\/a>, based at\u00a0Middlesex University<\/a>, submitted\u00a0a letter to the Committee of Ministers<\/a>, which supervises the execution of the Court\u2019s judgments, supported by\u00a0an opinion provided by leading UK barrister Julian Knowles, QC<\/a>. In his expert view, there is\u00a0\u201cno question\u201d<\/em>\u00a0that Jafarov\u2019s conviction resulted from a politically-motivated case of such gravity as to\u00a0\u201ccast doubt on the legitimacy of his conviction\u201d<\/em>. He concluded that the European Court\u2019s findings of violations of Articles 5 and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights justified reopening the proceedings in Jafarov\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0letter<\/a>, submitted ahead of the Committee of Ministers\u2019 September meeting in Strasbourg, urges the Committee to consider Mr Jafarov\u2019s situation, which has wider implications for other human rights defenders in the country who continue to face serious repercussions and persecution for criticising the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
See also:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Letter to the Committee of Ministers<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Expert legal opinion on\u00a0Rasul Jafarov v Azerbaijan<\/em><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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