{"id":7294,"date":"2023-07-18T09:51:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T06:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/?p=7294"},"modified":"2023-07-18T09:54:54","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T06:54:54","slug":"azerbaijan-yet-another-conscientious-objector-case-set-for-strasbourg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/azerbaijan-yet-another-conscientious-objector-case-set-for-strasbourg\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan: Yet Another Conscientious Objector Case Set For Strasbourg?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Convicted and jailed after refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience, Jehovah\u2019s Witness Seymur Mammadov failed to have his conviction and punishment overturned in his final appeal at Azerbaijan\u2019s Supreme Court on 8 June.<\/p>\n

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Seymur Mammadov. Photo Credit: Jehovah’s Witnesses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 23-year-old Mammadov \u2013 who spent nearly 12 weeks in jail and is now in the middle of one year\u2019s probation after his jail term was changed to a suspended sentence \u2013 is now considering a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has already found that the regime violated the human rights of seven Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses who had refused compulsory military service on grounds of conscience and sought in vain to do an alternative civilian service. The ECtHR issued its most recent judgments \u2013 in the cases of Emil Mehdiyev and Vahid Abilov \u2013 in October 2021<\/p>\n

Although the regime paid the compensation specified by the ECtHR in 2019 to the first five conscientious objectors, the Council of Europe is not satisfied that the judgment has been fully implemented. \u201cThe Court pointed out that such a situation in principle calls for legislative action by the respondent State in order to fulfil its obligations to enable the applicants and other persons in the same situation to benefit from the right to conscientious objection\u201d<\/p>\n

In a report on Azerbaijan made public on 21 June 2023, the Council of Europe\u2019s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reminded the regime of ECtHR judgments that \u201ccalled for legislative action on civilian service as an alternative to military service in Azerbaijan\u201d<\/p>\n

No draft Alternative Service Law has been presented to the Milli Majlis and no draft Law is listed for future consideration on the Milli Majlis website<\/p>\n

ECRI noted that the regime had informed it that a Working Group had been formed in the Milli Majlis (Parliament) to draft an Alternative Service Law. Zahid Oruj, chair of the Milli Majlis Human Rights Committee, and parliamentary assistants were unable to give Forum 18 any information about the Working Group, including who is on it and if it has made any progress in drafting such a Law<\/p>\n

Forum 18 asked Chingiz Asgarov, the government agent to the ECtHR, what steps Azerbaijan is taking to complete its execution of this ECtHR decision. Forum 18 received no immediate response.<\/p>\n

Forum 18 again wrote to the Human Rights Ombudsperson\u2019s Office in Baku asking what action it is taking (if any) to ensure that Azerbaijan introduces a civilian alternative service for those unable to serve in the army on grounds of conscience. Forum 18 received no immediate response<\/p>\n

(In 2018 the Sub-Committee on Accreditation of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions\u00a0downgraded the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson\u2019s Office\u00a0to B status because it \u201chas not adequately spoken out in a manner that effectively promotes protection for all human rights, including in response to credible allegations of human rights violations having been committed by government authorities\u201d.)<\/p>\n

Council of Europe obligation ignored<\/h2>\n

Military service of 18 months (12 months for those with higher education) is compulsory for all young men. Article 76, Part 2 of Azerbaijan\u2019s Constitution declares: \u201cIf the beliefs of citizens come into conflict with service in the army then in some cases envisaged by law alternative service instead of regular army service is permitted.\u201d However, no mechanism exists to enact this provision.<\/p>\n

Ahead of its accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001,\u00a0Azerbaijan promised\u00a0\u201cto adopt, within two years of accession, a law on alternative service in compliance with European standards and, in the meantime, to pardon all conscientious objectors presently serving prison terms or serving in disciplinary battalions, allowing them instead to choose (when the law on alternative service has come into force) to perform non-armed military service or alternative Civilian service\u201d.<\/p>\n

Azerbaijan has never done this, and conscientious objectors to military service have been repeatedly prosecuted and even jailed under Criminal Code Article 321.1.\u00a0This states: \u201cEvasion without lawful grounds of call-up to military service or of mobilisation, with the purpose of evading serving in the military, is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years [in peacetime]\u201d.<\/p>\n

United Nations (UN) human rights bodies, as well as the Council of Europe\u2019s Venice Commission and its European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), have repeatedly criticised Azerbaijan\u2019s failure to introduce a civilian alternative to compulsory military service .<\/p>\n

In August 2019, the\u00a0Baku Human Rights Club, which Rasul Jafarov heads, published its own proposal for the text of an Alternative Service Law to try to put the issue on the public agenda. \u201cWe have had no response to our proposal from official people,\u201d Jafarov\u00a0told Forum 18 in April 2020.<\/p>\n

Jehovah\u2019s Witness Royal Karimov was seized and handed over to the army on 25 July 2022 \u2013 two days after his 18th birthday \u2013 despite telling conscription officials in Gadabay, the police and personnel in the military unit that he cannot perform military service on grounds of conscience but is ready to perform a civilian alternative service. He was\u00a0finally released from the military unit in Ganca\u00a0on 1 November 2022, more than three months later.<\/p>\n

On 29 November 2022, Karimov received official documentation from the State Service for Mobilisation and Conscription confirming that he is medically unfit for military service and giving the date of 14 October 2027 for his next medical examination. On 30 November 2022, Karimov filed an administrative complaint about the way he had been treated to the head office of the State Service for Mobilisation and Conscription, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses told Forum 18.<\/p>\n

More than ten other Jehovah\u2019s Witness young men have faced\u00a0summonses, often repeated medical examinations and restrictions\u00a0(including bans on leaving Azerbaijan) after telling the State Service for Mobilisation and Conscription that they cannot perform compulsory military service and that they are willing to perform an alternative, civilian service. At least one, who did not know he was banned from leaving Azerbaijan, was stopped on the border with Georgia in 2019 and sent back. He is still banned from leaving Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court upholds conviction for refusing military service on grounds of conscience<\/h2>\n

At the Supreme Court on 8 June 2023, Jehovah\u2019s Witness Seymur Afqan oglu Mammadov (born 16 August 2000) lost his final appeal against his conviction and punishment for refusing military service on grounds of conscience.<\/p>\n

Mammadov \u2013 who is from the north-western district of Goranboy \u2013 was summoned in May 2022 by Goranboy District State Service for Mobilisation and Conscription. He informed officers about his religious position as a conscientious objector to military service who is ready to perform civilian alternative service, as provided for by the Constitution and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. He was subsequently informed that he had been restricted from leaving the country.<\/p>\n

On 22 September 2022, Goranboy District Court\u00a0sentenced Mammadov under Criminal Code Article 321.1\u00a0to nine months\u2019 imprisonment. He was taken to prison, where prison officials would not let him have a Bible or receive letters, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses told Forum 18. He appealed against his sentence.<\/p>\n

Mammadov was brought to Ganca Appeal Court for the final hearing on 12 December 2022. The prosecutor stated that he supported the decision of Goranboy District Court but, given Mammadov\u2019s age and positive character references, he requested a two-year suspended sentence. The court partially satisfied the appeal and\u00a0replaced the nine-month jail term with a one-year suspended sentence.<\/p>\n

Mammadov was released in the courtroom immediately after the hearing after nearly 12 weeks in jail. His probation of one year was deemed to begin on 12 December 2022 and he has a criminal record.<\/p>\n

Mammadov\u2019s final appeal was registered at the Supreme Court in Baku on 14 January 2023, according to court records. Officials fitted him with an electronic tag on 16 January, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses told Forum 18.<\/p>\n

On 8 June, a panel of three judges at the Supreme Court in Baku, chaired by Judge Ilkin Rajabov, heard Mammadov\u2019s final appeal against his conviction and punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe accused was repeatedly summoned to the State Service for Mobilisation and Conscription and Prosecutor\u2019s Office and arrived at the place where he was called quickly every time, he never tried to avoid military service by running away or hiding, he simply asked the authorities to provide him with the opportunity to undergo alternative civilian service in compliance with the internal and international obligations assumed by the state,\u201d the defence noted in court, according to the decision seen by Forum 18. \u201cThe accused should not be punished because there is no alternative civilian service law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mammadov\u2019s defence cited the constitutional guarantees of the right not to serve in the army on grounds of conscience, as well as those enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. It also cited the European Court of Human Rights judgments in earlier cases. However, the Court rejected his arguments, claiming that because of armed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh which broke out again in September 2020, \u201crestriction of alternative service of citizens should be considered reasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither Seymur nor his advocate were allowed to complete their prepared submissions and the Prosecutor simply asked for the appeal to be dismissed,\u201d Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses told Forum 18. \u201cThe deliberation was short and the judges did not leave the court before announcing that the cassation appeal was not granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court left Mammadov\u2019s one-year suspended sentence unchanged. He still has to wear the electronic tag, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses told Forum 18.<\/p>\n

Now he has exhausted all domestic remedies, Seymur Mammadov is considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses told Forum 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem of lack of legislation on alternatives to military service in Azerbaijan\u201d<\/h2>\n

On 17 October 2019, in the case of Mushfiq Mammadov and others (Application No.\u00a014604\/08), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg found in favour of five Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses punished through the courts between 2007 and 2013 for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Four of them had been jailed, while the fifth (Mammadov) had been given a suspended prison sentence and a fine. The judgment\u00a0covered four cases\u00a0(one involving two applicants), which the Court considered together.<\/p>\n

Although the regime paid the compensation specified by the ECtHR to the five conscientious objectors, the Council of Europe is not satisfied that the judgment has been implemented.<\/p>\n

The Court \u201cobserved that the present case highlights the problem of lack of legislation on alternatives to military service in Azerbaijan, noting that the enactment of such a law corresponds to the commitment entered into by Azerbaijan on its accession to the Council of Europe and stems from the Article 76 \u00a7 2 of the Azerbaijani Constitution,\u201d the Council of Europe notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court pointed out that such a situation in principle calls for legislative action by the respondent State in order to fulfil its obligations to enable the applicants and other persons in the same situation to benefit from the right to conscientious objection.\u201d<\/p>\n

In such cases, the \u201crespondent state\u201d (in this case Azerbaijan) is required to prepare an action plan. \u201cAn action plan is a document setting out the measures the respondent state has taken and intends to take to implement a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, including an indicative timetable for the adoption and implementation of those measures,\u201d the Council of Europe explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn action report is a report by the respondent state setting out all the measures taken to implement a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights and\/or an explanation of why no measures, or no further measures, are necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of Mushfiq Mammadov and others, \u201cAction plan\/report is awaited,\u201d the\u00a0Council of Europe notes.<\/p>\n

Forum 18 asked Chingiz Asgarov, the Azerbaijani government\u2019s Agent to the ECtHR, in writing on the afternoon of 13 July what steps Azerbaijan is taking to complete its execution of this ECtHR decision. Forum 18 received no response by the middle of the working day in Baku of 14 July.<\/p>\n

ECRI renews concern over lack of alternative service, calls for \u201clegislative action\u201d<\/h2>\n

Officials have given mixed signals on whether they intend to fulfil the obligation to the Council of Europe to introduce a civilian alternative service for those who cannot serve in the army on grounds of conscience.<\/p>\n

In its latest\u00a0report on Azerbaijan\u00a0adopted on 29 March 2023 and made public on 21 June, the Council of Europe\u2019s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) noted its continuing concern over the situation of conscientious objectors, particularly over those who had been jailed. It said the regime had taken \u201cno further steps\u201d since ECRI raised the issue in\u00a0its 2019 report.<\/p>\n

ECRI reminded the regime of the 2019 ECtHR judgment in the case of Mushfiq Mammadov and others, noting that its implementation is still pending. It added: \u201cECRI strongly encourages the authorities to consider the observations made by the Court under Article 46 of the [European] Convention [on Human Rights], which called for legislative action on civilian service as an alternative to military service in Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its response to ECRI on the initial draft of the report, the regime noted: \u201cThe working group has been established in the Milli Majlis for the purpose of drafting the law \u2018On Alternative Service\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Working Group working on new Alternative Service Law?<\/h2>\n

No election in Azerbaijan \u2013 including February 2020 Milli Majlis (Parliament) elections \u2013 has ever been\u00a0found to be free and fair\u00a0by Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election observers.<\/p>\n

Despite the regime\u2019s insistence to ECRI that a Working Group in the Milli Majlis is working on a new Alternative Service Law, Forum 18 has been unable to find out who is on the Working Group and what progress (if any) it has made.<\/p>\n

No draft Alternative Service Law has been presented to the Milli Majlis and no draft Law is listed for future consideration on the Milli Majlis website.<\/p>\n

Zahid Oruj, a Milli Majlis deputy who chairs its Human Rights Committee, told Forum 18 on 11 July that the Working Group is not under his Committee. He added that he does not have \u201cdetailed information about the latest update of the issue. We have no details of the endeavours of the re-set up Working Group.\u201d He referred all questions to Ziyafat Asgarov, head of the Milli Majlis Defence, Security and Anti-Corruption Committee.<\/p>\n

Asgarov\u2019s assistant told Forum 18 on 13 July that Asgarov is on holiday. An assistant to the Defence, Security and Anti-Corruption Committee told Forum 18 the same day that he had no information about the Working Group. He said that as many colleagues are on holiday, it is impossible to find any information.<\/p>\n

Forum 18 again wrote to the Human Rights Ombudsperson\u2019s Office in Baku on the afternoon of 13 July asking what action it is taking (if any) to ensure that Azerbaijan introduces a civilian alternative service for those unable to serve in the army on grounds of conscience. Forum 18 received no response by the middle of the working day in Baku of 14 July.<\/p>\n

Forum 18 earlier asked the Human Rights Ombudsperson\u2019s Office the same question. Its 10 October 2022 response, signed by chief of staff Aydin Safikhanly,\u00a0did not answer this question.<\/p>\n

Lone parliamentary voice?<\/h2>\n

On 30 March 2020, Siyavush Novruzov, a senior ruling party politician, made a brief remark to parliament, the Milli Majlis,\u00a0that an Alternative Service Law should be adopted.<\/p>\n

Novruzov repeated the call in the Milli Majlis on 5 May 2022, according to the record of the session. \u201cThere are people whose health allows them, but their other views do not allow them to carry weapons,\u201d he told deputies. \u201cIn the past, of course, our territories were under occupation. That\u2019s why we approached it completely differently. But after we are freed from the occupation and our territorial integrity is ensured, I think that we should also adopt a law on alternative service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novruzov explained to deputies that such alternative service would be carried out not in the military but in other parts of the economy, including health care. However, he proposed that the individual performing alternative civilian service serve for longer than those performing military service. \u201cThis is how he compensates for his place,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n

The right of those with conscientious objections not to be forced to take part in military structures or activity derives from Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which enshrines \u201cFreedom of thought, conscience and religion\u201d. In states which have an alternative civilian service, such service\u00a0must be open to all who object to military service on grounds of conscience and must not be punitive\u00a0(for example by its conditions or duration).<\/p>\n

Forum 18 wished to find out from Novruzov why he was proposing that those performing alternative civilian service should serve for longer and what progress there has been on adopting a law. However, he did not answer his phone each time Forum 18 called between 11 and 14 July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Convicted and jailed after refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience, Jehovah\u2019s Witness Seymur Mammadov failed to have his conviction and punishment overturned in his final appeal at Azerbaijan\u2019s Supreme Court on 8 June.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azerbaijan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7298,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions\/7298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}