The Court ordered the Azerbaijani government to pay her damages equalling 59,000 euros. Ms. Karimova had joined the election race from Sumgayit Election District No. 42. Though she had won the elections with a landslide victory based on the outcomes of 35 precinct election commissions, the Central Election Commission declared the results void. Since its ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights on 15 April 2002, this verdict will make Karimova’s compensation the highest ever paid by the Azerbaijani government. As a signatory to the convention, Azerbaijan is bound to comply with the rulings of the ECHR.
In a similar ruling early April this year, the ECHR court found that the voting rights of Nemat Aliyev, another opposition candidate of the opposition bloc Azadlig in Barda Election District, were violated. The pro-governmental Ana Vatan Party candidate Zahid Oruj was named the winner of the vote in that district. The ECHR has ordered the Azerbaijani government to pay Nemat Aliyev damages equalling in Azerbaijani manats of 7,500 euros. At present, 31 more complaints lodged by the independent and opposition candidates are still pending before the ECHR related to the massive electoral fraud in 2005.
With one exception, Azerbaijani authorities have implemented all ECHR rulings. The exception is the April 2010 decision on the case of jailed journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, left, whose imprisonment has been denounced by several international human rights groups. The same groups have described the charges made by the Azerbaijani Government against Fatullayev as fabricated and politically motivated. The ECHR found that the Azerbaijani government had violated Fatullayev’s rights to freedom of expression and fair trial, declared his imprisonment illegal, and ordered that Fatullayev be freed and be paid 25,000 euros in compensation. Disagreeing with the verdict handed down by the ECHR, the Azerbaijani authorities appealed to the Upper Chamber of the ECHR in June 2010.
