28 February 2011

Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu

Chairman of the Committee of Ministers

Council of Europe

 

Dear Minister Davutoğlu,

We, the undersigning member organisations of the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan, are writing with regards to the case of Fatullayev v. Azerbaijan (Application no. 40984/07). We wanted to thank the Committee of Ministers for its attention to this case, including the Committee’s decision of 6 December 2010 noting concern regarding Eynulla Fatullayev’s continued detention and calling on the Azerbaijani authorities to explore all possible means of ending his detention.

We are deeply concerned that Mr Fatullayev remains wrongfully imprisoned, as the Azerbaijani Government continues to refuse to comply with the Committee’s decision and the 22 April 2010 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights ordering Mr Fatullayev’s immediate release. This demonstrates a failure by a Council of Europe Member State to comply with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

We urge the Committee to consider Mr Fatullayev’s case as a matter of critical priority, and request that you include a debate on this case on the list of items for consideration during the next human rights meeting of the Committee from 8-10 March. We further urge the Committee to take every appropriate action to address the Azerbaijani Government’s failure to execute the Court’s judgment, including issuing an interim resolution as an outcome of the 8-10 March meeting.

Thank you for your attention to the points we have raised, in response to which we hope you will take prompt action. We stand ready to provide any further information which may be of assistance to the Committee in its consideration of this case. Please direct any queries or responses to Rebecca Vincent at +44 (0)20 7324 2500 or rebecca@article19.org.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Agnès Callamard, Executive Director, ARTICLE 19 

Nina Ognianova, Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists

Philip Leach, Director, European Human Rights Advocacy Centre

David Kramer, Executive Director, Freedom House

Ane Tusvik Bonde, Regional Manager for Eastern Europe and Caucasus, Human Rights House Foundation

Natasha Schmidt, Assistant Editor, Index on Censorship

Oliver Money-Kyrle, Deputy Secretary General and Projects Director, International Federation of Journalists

Milica Pesic, Executive Director, Media Diversity Institute

Gugulethu Moyo, Executive Director, Media Legal Defence Initiative

Bjørn Engesland, Secretary General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee

Sara Whyatt, Interim Executive Director, PEN International

Jean-François Julliard, Secretary-General, Reporters Without Borders

Virginie Jouan, Executive Director, Press Freedom and Media Development, World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)

 

CC: Mr Simon Palmer

Secretariat of the Committee of Ministers

Council of Europe

Via e-mail: simon.palmer@coe.int

 

Ms Geneviève Mayer and Ms Charlotte de Broutelles

Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs

Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Council of Europe

Via facsimile: +33 (0)3 88 41 27 93

Via e-mail: genevieve.mayer@coe.int and charlotte.debroutelles@coe.int

 

Mr Lukas Heim and Ms Anne Weber

Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights

Council of Europe

Via facsimile: +33 (0)3 90 21 50 53

Via e-mail: lukas.heim@coe.int and anne.weber@coe.int

 

Photograph (c) Francois Schnell.