CASE OF TAHIROV v. AZERBAIJAN
Preliminary objection dismissed (Article 37-1 - Striking out applications);Violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 - Right to free elections-{general} (Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 - Stand for election);Non-pecuniary damage - award (Article 41 - Non-pecuniary damage;Just satisfaction)
Dmitry Dedov;Elisabeth Steiner;Julia Laffranque;Khanlar Hajiyev;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Ksenija Turković
5. The applicant was born in 1952 and lives in Sumgayit. 6. The applicant nominated himself to stand as an independent candidate in the parliamentary elections of 7 November 2010 and applied for registration as a candidate in the single-mandate Sumgayit-Absheron Electoral Constituency No. 44. 7. As the Electoral Code required that each nomination as a candidate for parliamentary elections be supported by a minimum of 450 voters, on 6 October 2010 the applicant submitted to the Constituency Electoral Commission (“the ConEC”) twelve signature sheets containing 600 voter signatures collected in support of his candidacy. 8. Before the ConEC’s decision on the question of the applicant’s registration as a candidate, the accuracy of the signature sheets and other registration documents submitted by the applicant were to be first examined by a special working group (işçi qrupu) established by the ConEC. 9. On 11 October 2010, the applicant was invited to the ConEC. He was informed that the validity of supporting signatures submitted by him had already been examined by the ConEC working group and that, based on the results of that examination, the ConEC had held a hearing on whether to register him as a candidate. According to the applicant, he orally protested to the fact that he had not been informed of the time of the examination by the working group of his signature sheets and that the ConEC had taken a decision without his participation. 10. On 12 October 2010 the applicant was informed that by a decision of 11 October 2010 the ConEC had refused the applicant’s request for registration as a candidate. The ConEC found that, according to the opinion of the working group, a number of submitted supporting signatures were invalid, and that the number of the remaining valid signatures was below 450. According to the ConEC decision, the working group had relied on opinions of two of its experts. In particular, expert M.M. found that 172 signatures were not authentic, because they had been executed repeatedly by the same persons who had already signed the signature sheets. Expert A.V. found that a total of 243 signatures were invalid. No more detail was given in the ConEC decision as for the reasons for the invalidation of those signatures. 11. The applicant was provided with a copy of the ConEC decision on 12 October 2010. However, the relevant expert opinions were not made available to him until a further written request by the applicant to this effect. 12. According to the applicant, the expert opinion by M.M. was undated, while the expert opinion by A.V. was dated 11 October 2010. No copies of those expert opinions were submitted to the Court either by the applicant or the Government. However, it can be discerned from other documents in the case file that, according to those expert opinions, the following grounds were given for invalidation of some of the signatures: (a) 86 groups of signatures, consisting of a total of 258 signatures, had been “probably (ehtimal ki) executed by the same person in each group”; for these reasons, 86 of those signatures were deemed valid, while the remaining 172 were considered invalid; (b) eight signatures were found to be invalid because the information on voters’ addresses was incomplete (only the city of residence was mentioned); and (c) 60 signatures were considered invalid because the information on the relevant voters’ addresses omitted the city of residence (all those voters lived in Sumgayit). 13. On 14 October 2010 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Central Electoral Commission (“the CEC”) against the ConEC decision to refuse registration. He complained, inter alia, of the following: (a) contrary to the requirements of Article 59.3 of the Electoral Code, the applicant had not been invited to participate in the process of examination of the signature sheets by the ConEC working group and, thus, deprived of the right to give necessary explanations to the experts; (b) contrary to the requirements of Article 59.13 of the Electoral Code, he had not been provided with a copy of the record on the results of the examination of the signature sheets at least twenty-four hours prior to the ConEC meeting on the applicant’s registration; (c) the applicant’s presence at the ConEC meeting of 11 October 2010 had not been ensured; and (d) the findings of the ConEC working group that such a large number of signatures were invalid were factually wrong, arbitrary and unjustifiably formalistic. In particular, the finding that 172 signatures were “executed by the same person” was accepted as an established fact merely on the basis of an indication of such probability by the expert, in the absence of any further factual verification. Furthermore, invalidation of the remaining signatures owing to incomplete information on the voters’ addresses had been wrong, because such information was not “incorrect” within the meaning of Article 59.7.1 of the Electoral Code (on which the ConEC had relied), but simply incomplete and could, therefore, be rectified if the applicant had been given an opportunity to do so as required by the Electoral Code. In the applicant’s view, taking into account the territorial location of the constituency, it should have been clear to the ConEC that the relevant voters resided in Sumgayit, even though they had not mentioned the city of residence on the signature sheets. 14. Enclosed with his complaint to the CEC, the applicant submitted written statements by ninety-one voters, whose signatures had been declared invalid, affirming the authenticity of their signatures. He also submitted photocopies of ID cards of several voters in order to clarify the situation with their residence addresses. However, according to the applicant, those documents were not taken into consideration by the CEC. 15. The CEC conducted another examination of the signature sheets by members of its own working group. The applicant was not invited to participate in this process. According to the working group’s minutes of 15 October 2010 and two expert opinions, a total of 178 signatures were considered to be invalid. In particular, expert A.A. found that three signatures were invalid because they belonged to persons with no right to vote (minors under eighteen years of age) and that three other signatures had been executed by persons whose identification document number was stated incorrectly. Expert U.A. found that “45 groups of signatures, consisting of a total of 217 signatures, had been probably executed by the same person in each group” (“217 ədəd imza 45 qrup olmaqla öz aralarında ehtimal ki, eyni şəxs tərəfindən icra olunmuşdur”). This meant that one signature in each such group should be considered valid (a total of 45), while the remainder should be considered invalid (a total of 172). 16. The applicant was not invited to the CEC meeting dealing with his complaint against the ConEC decision of 11 October 2010. 17. By a decision of 17 October 2010 the CEC dismissed the applicant’s complaint and upheld the ConEC decision of 11 October 2010. It found that, based on the findings of the CEC’s own working group, 178 out of 600 signatures submitted by the applicant were invalid and that the remaining number of 422 valid signatures was below the minimum required by law. 18. The applicant was given copies of the CEC decision and the relevant working group documents on 18 October 2010. 19. On 20 October 2010 the applicant lodged an appeal against the CEC decision with the Baku Court of Appeal. He reiterated his complaints made before the CEC concerning the ConEC decision and procedures. Moreover, he raised, inter alia, the following complaints: (a) contrary to the requirements of the electoral law, the CEC failed to notify him of its meetings and to ensure his presence during the examination of the signature sheets and the examination of his complaint; (b) the relevant CEC documents had been made available to him in a belated manner, which was contrary to the requirements of the electoral law and had deprived him of the opportunity to challenge the decisions of the CEC and its working group more effectively; (c) both electoral commissions’ decisions were based on expert opinions that contained nothing more than conjecture and speculation (that the signatures were “probably” (“ehtimal ki”) falsified), instead of properly established facts; (d) the CEC had ignored the written statements by ninety-one voters confirming the authenticity of their invalidated signatures and had failed to take them into account; and (e) the CEC had failed to provide any reasoning and had not addressed any of the applicant’s arguments in its decision. 20. By a judgment of 23 October 2010 the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. In its judgment, the court took note of the ConEC and CEC decisions, proceeded to cite a number of provisions of the Electoral Code and the Code of Civil Procedure without explaining their relevance to the facts of the case at hand, did not address any of the applicant’s arguments, and dismissed his appeal as “unsubstantiated” without providing reasons for reaching such a conclusion. 21. On 30 October 2010 the applicant lodged a further appeal with the Supreme Court, reiterating his previous complaints and arguing that the Baku Court of Appeal had not carried out a fair examination of the case and had delivered an unreasoned judgment. 22. On 2 November 2010 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal as unsubstantiated, without examining his arguments in detail and finding no grounds for doubting the findings of the electoral commissions and the Court of Appeal.