CASE OF MIRZAYEV AND OTHERS v. AZERBAIJAN
Violation of Article 11 - Freedom of assembly and association (Article 11-1 - Freedom of peaceful assembly);Violation of Article 6+6-3 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Criminal proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing) (Article 6 - Right to a fair trial;Article 6-3 - Rights of defence);Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-1 - Lawful arrest or detention)
Nona Tsotsoria;Síofra O’Leary
4. The applicants’ dates of birth and places of residence are given in the Appendix. 5. At the material time the second applicant was a member of an opposition group Nida. The third applicant was a member of an opposition group İctimai Palata; he was also one of the organisers of several demonstrations held in Baku. 6. The first and the second applicants participated in a demonstration organised by the opposition on 20 October 2012. Prior to that assembly, on 15 October 2012, the organisers gave notice to the relevant authority, the Baku City Executive Authority (“the BCEA”). The BCEA refused to authorise the holding of the demonstration at the place indicated by the organisers and proposed a different location on the outskirts of Baku – the grounds of a driving school situated in the 20th residential area of the Sabail District. Nevertheless, the organisers decided to hold the demonstration as planned. 7. The second applicant also participated in demonstrations held on 12 January and 26 January 2013. The third applicant participated in a demonstration held on 30 April 2013. The organisers of those demonstrations gave no proper prior notice to the BCEA. Information about the demonstrations was disseminated on the internet or in the press. 8. According to the applicants, the demonstrations were intended to be peaceful and were conducted in a peaceful manner. The participants of the demonstration of 20 October 2012 were demanding democratic reforms in the country and free and fair elections, and protesting against impediments on freedom of assembly. The demonstration of 12 January was aimed at protesting about the deaths of soldiers in the army, while the demonstration of 26 January 2013 condemned the use of force by the police against the participants of previous demonstrations. The participants of the demonstration of 30 April 2013 were commemorating the victims of a terrorist attack which had been committed in 2009 at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. 9. The police began to disperse the demonstrations of 20 October 2012, 12 January, 26 January and 30 April 2013 as soon as the protesters began to gather. 10. The circumstances related to the dispersal of the demonstration of 20 October 2012, the first and second applicants’ arrests and custody, and subsequent administrative proceedings against them are similar to those in Gafgaz Mammadov v. Azerbaijan (no. 60259/11, 15 October 2015) (see also Appendix). 11. The circumstances related to the dispersal of the demonstrations of 12 January, 26 January and 30 April 2013, the second and third applicants’ arrests and custody, and the subsequent administrative proceedings against them are similar to those in Bayramov v. Azerbaijan ([Committee] nos. 19150/13 and 52022/13, 6 April 2017) (see also Appendix).