ECHR rules in favor of Azerbaijani media outlets blocked by government
On June 13, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued rulings on two complaints from Azerbaijan, recognizing the violations claimed by four blocked media outlets.
The affected media include Azad Europe/Radio Liberty (azadliq.org), Azer Talibov, founder and editor of the online news portal anaxeber.az, Vugar Alekbarov, founder of the online news portal az24saat.org, and Avaz Zeynalli, editor-in-chief of khural.com. Following legislative changes in 2017-2018 to the Law “On Information, Informatization, and Information Protection” and the Code of Administrative Offenses, access to these media outlets was completely blocked within Azerbaijan. The local courts based their decisions on these legislative changes.
The applicants argued before the ECHR that the comprehensive blocking of their websites, rather than targeting specific content, was unduly severe and aimed at suppressing government criticism. They cited violations of Articles 6, 10, 13, and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ECHR concluded that the blocking of these media outlets violated the right to freedom of expression. The court ordered the government to pay 5,000 euros in moral damages to each of the four applicants. Additionally, the heads of anaxeber.az, az24saat.org, and khural.com were awarded 1,000 euros each for legal expenses. The ruling also mandates the lifting of the internet block on these resources. The applicants were represented by lawyers Elchin and Zibeyda Sadigov.