Communicated on 5 September 2016
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 30608/14
Jabbar SAVALANLI
against Azerbaijan
lodged on 2 April 2014
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Jabbar Savalanli, is an Azerbaijani national, who was born in 1991 and lives in Sumgayit. He is represented before the Court by Mr R. Mustafazade and Mr A. Mustafayev, lawyers practising in Azerbaijan.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarized as follows.
On 1 March 2014 the applicant was charged by the police with an administrative offence, namely that he had deliberately failed to comply with the orders of police officers who had asked him to stop violating public order. When questioned by the police on the same day, the applicant was not given access to a lawyer of his own choice and in protest to that he refused to sign the “record of an administrative offence”.
On that same day the applicant was brought before the Sumgayit City Court.
There, he insisted on hiring a lawyer of his own choice but the judge disregarded his request and he was then represented by a State-funded lawyer.
The first-instance court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to thirty days’ administrative detention.
The applicant, now represented by a lawyer of his own choice, lodged an appeal before the Sumgayit Court of Appeal, arguing that he had been deprived of an access to the lawyer of his own choice both at the police station and in the court. He also complained that, after he had been arrested and brought to the Sumgayit City Police Department, he had not been informed of the reasons of his arrest and of the right not to incriminate himself.
On 13 March 2014 the Sumgayit Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal on the merits, but reduced the duration of the administrative detention to fifteen days.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3(c) of the Convention that his right to be represented by a lawyer of his own choosing was violated.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Did the applicant have a fair trial in the criminal proceedings against him as required under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? Was the applicant afforded an opportunity to defend himself through legal assistance of his own choosing, as required by Article 6 § 3 (c) of the Convention? In particular, was the applicant’s right to be defended by a lawyer of his own choice restricted during the questioning at the police and the proceedings in the first-instance court?
The Government are requested to submit copies of all the documents relating to the administrative proceedings, including the record on an administrative offence, the transcripts of the hearings and witness submissions.
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy