FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 25643/16
AZERBAIJANI LAWYERS ASSOCIATION and Annagi HAJIBEYLI
against Azerbaijan
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 13 June 2024 as a Committee composed of:
Péter Paczolay, President,
Gilberto Felici,
Raffaele Sabato, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 27 April 2016,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants were represented by Mr K. Bagirov, a lawyer based in Azerbaijan.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention concerning the imposition of a tax sanction on the applicant association and the alleged unfairness of the related tax proceedings were communicated to the Azerbaijani Government (“the Government”).
The Court received the friendly-settlement declarations, signed by the parties, under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Azerbaijan in respect of the facts giving rise to this application, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them the amounts detailed in the appended table. These amounts will be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above‑mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on them, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.
THE LAW
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 4 July 2024.
Viktoriya Maradudina Péter Paczolay
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention
(imposition of a tax sanction and the alleged unfairness of the related tax proceedings)
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth/
registration
Date of receipt of Government’s declaration
Date of receipt of applicant’s declaration
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage jointly (in euros)[1]
Amount awarded for costs and expenses per application
(in euros)[2]
25643/16
27/04/2016
AZERBAIJANI LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
2000
Annagi
Bahadur oglu
HAJIBEYLI
1955
30/04/2024
07/05/2024
3,500
500
(to be paid directly to the applicants’ representative’s bank account)
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
[2] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.