THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 77770/17
Ramil NASIBOV
against Azerbaijan
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 19 February 2026 as a Committee composed of:
Diana Kovatcheva, President,
Canòlic Mingorance Cairat,
Vasilka Sancin, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application against the Republic of Azerbaijan lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 27 October 2017,
Having regard to the declaration submitted by the respondent Government requesting the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant’s and his representative’s details are set out in the appended table.
The applicant’s complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention concerning the applicant’s conviction for an administrative offence and administrative detention for failure to comply with a court judgment were communicated to the Azerbaijani Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
After unsuccessful friendly-settlement negotiations, the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issues raised by these complaints. They further requested the Court to strike out the application in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.
The Government acknowledged the violation of the applicant’s rights guaranteed by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. They offered to pay the applicant the amounts detailed in the appended table and invited the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. The amounts would 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 undertook 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 applicant was sent the terms of the Government’s unilateral declaration before the date of this decision. The Court has not received a response from the applicant accepting the terms of the declaration.
The Court observes that Article 37 § 1 (c) enables it to strike a case out of its list if:
“... for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application”.
Thus, it may strike out applications under Article 37 § 1 (c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicant wishes the examination of the case to be continued (see, in particular, the Tahsin Acar v. Turkey judgment (preliminary objections) [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75‑77, ECHR 2003-VI).
The Court has established clear case-law concerning complaints relating to administrative conviction and detention for non-execution of court judgments (see Karimov and Others v. Azerbaijan, nos. 24219/16 and 2 others, 22 July 2021).
Noting the admissions contained in the Government’s declaration as well as the amount of compensation proposed – which is consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases – the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application in the part covered by the unilateral declaration (Article 37 § 1 (c)).
In the light of the above considerations, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the application in the part covered by the unilateral declaration (Article 37 § 1 in fine).
Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declaration, the application may be restored to the list in accordance with Article 37 § 2 of the Convention (see Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4 March 2008).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list as regards the complaint under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.
As regards the applicant’s complaint under Article 1 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention that deprivation of his liberty merely on the ground of his inability to pay the judgment debt, the Court considers that by way of the above-mentioned unilateral declaration and the Court’s decision to strike out the complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the main legal questions raised in the present application have been addressed. The Court concludes, therefore, that there is no need to examine this part of the application separately (see, among other authorities, Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu v. Romania [GC], no. 47848/08, § 165, ECHR 2014, and Karimov and Others, cited above, §§ 36-38; for the similar approach in strike-out decisions see Ponari v. Albania (dec.) [Committee], no. 945/16, 24 February 2022, and Robert Bosch d.o.o. v. Croatia (dec.) [Committee], no. 6598/22, 10 November 2022).
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government’s declaration and of the arrangements for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein;
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases as regards the complaint under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention;
Decides that there is no need to examine the remaining part of the application.
Done in English and notified in writing on 12 March 2026.
Viktoriya Maradudina Diana Kovatcheva
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(Concerning administrative conviction and detention for non-execution of court judgments)
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Date of receipt of Government’s declaration
Date of receipt of applicant’s comments
Amount awarded for non-pecuniary damage
(in euros)[1]
Amount awarded for costs and expenses
(in euros)[2]
77770/17
27/10/2017
Ramil Bashir oglu
NASIBOV
1976
Nurlana Aliyeva
Baku
19/10/2022
07/12/2022
3,600
500
(to be paid
directly to the
representative Ms
Nurlana Aliyeva’s
bank account)
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant
[2] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant