HASANOV v. AZERBAIJAN and 4 other applications

Published on 11 August 2025

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 13830/18
Tofig HASANOV against Azerbaijan
and 4 other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 22 July 2025

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The applications concern the applicants’ alleged ill-treatment by police officers and ineffective investigations into those allegations.

The applicant in application no. 13830/18 was arrested in 2015 and charged with illegal drug possession. The remaining eight applicants were arrested and charged with various grave crimes in the framework of criminal investigations into the so-called Ganja events of July 2018, during which the applicant in application no. 43603/21 had attacked and wounded the Head of Ganja City Executive Power and his security guard, while the others had allegedly participated in mass disorder in the following days to show their support to that applicant.

According to all the applicants, they were ill-treated by the police officers during their arrest and in police custody, following which they lodged criminal complaints with the prosecuting authorities.

The prosecuting authorities rejected the applicants’ complaints of ill‑treatment as groundless. The applicants’ complaints to the domestic courts against the prosecuting authorities’ rejection decisions were unsuccessful.

The applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention that they were subjected to ill-treatment by the police officers and that the domestic authorities failed to conduct effective investigations in that regard. Relying on Article 13 of the Convention, the applicants also complain that there was no effective remedy in respect of their ill-treatment complaints.

The applicant in application no. 13830/18 also complains under Article 10 of the Convention that the police officers arrested and ill-treated him because of his satirical poems in which he had criticized the former President of Azerbaijan.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1.  Have the applicants been subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (see Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 119, ECHR 2000-IV, and Mustafa Hajili v. Azerbaijan, no. 42119/12, §§ 34-37, 24 November 2016)?

2.  Having regard to the procedural obligation of protection of individuals from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment (see Labita, cited above, § 131, and Mustafa Hajili, cited above, §§ 47-48), were the investigations in the present cases by the domestic authorities in breach of Article 3 of the Convention?

3.  Did the applicants have at their disposal an effective domestic remedy for their complaints under Article 3, as required by Article 13 of the Convention?

4.  In application no. 13830/18, has there been an interference with the applicant’s freedom of expression, within the meaning of Article 10 § 1 of the Convention (see Mariya Alekhina and Others v. Russia, no. 38004/12, § 203, 17 July 2018, and Ibrahimov and Mammadov v. Azerbaijan, nos. 63571/16 and 5 others, §§ 170-74, 13 February 2020)? If so, was that interference prescribed by law and necessary in terms of Article 10 § 2?

The Government are requested to submit copies of all documents concerning the investigations into the alleged ill-treatment (complaints, decisions, expert reports (if any) and other relevant documents).

APPENDIX