ECHR: Azerbaijan Violated Rights of Two Women by Imposing Travel Bans

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has announced a new ruling regarding the violation of the right to freedom of movement of two Azerbaijani citizens, whose travel outside the country was unlawfully restricted.

The Court found that the "STOP" travel ban imposed on the applicants, Zeynab Abdullayeva and Elnara Sarjanova, was unlawful and that their domestic complaints had not been properly investigated.

According to the ruling, the Azerbaijani government must pay €3,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and an additional €500 for legal costs and expenses to each of the two applicants.

Abdullayeva and Sarjanova learned of their travel restrictions in 2023. Both women were banned from leaving the country by investigative authorities after being questioned as witnesses in separate criminal cases.

Although they appealed these decisions to the domestic courts, they were unsuccessful. The courts refused to examine Sarjanova’s complaint on its merits, while Abdullayeva’s appeal was dismissed.

The domestic court's decision noted that the investigation into the case in which Abdullayeva was questioned was still ongoing and she could potentially face charges in the future. However, the applicants emphasized in their complaints that current legislation contains no provisions allowing for travel bans to be imposed on individuals acting as witnesses.

Taking these circumstances into account, the ECHR concluded that there had been a violation of freedom of movement under the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 2 of Protocol No. 4) and the right to an effective remedy (Article 13).

The Court has previously delivered similar rulings concerning Azerbaijan. Dozens of comparable applications—most of which have been lodged by journalists and socio-political activists—are currently at the communication stage between the Court and the government.

Zeynab Abdullayeva is the mother of Huseyn Abdullayev, a former Member of Parliament who is currently imprisoned.

The former MP was detained in Turkey in 2018, extradited to Azerbaijan, and sentenced to six years in prison on fraud charges. In March 2024, just 40 days before completing his sentence, a new criminal case was launched against him for laundering criminally obtained property, resulting in a nine-year prison sentence. Abdullayev denies the charges, claiming his imprisonment is politically motivated.

The other applicant, Elnara Sarjanova, is the wife of Azer Sarjanov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 2023 assassination attempt on MP Fazil Mustafa.

During his trial, Sarjanov claimed they did not intend to kill the MP but merely wanted to punish him for his religious views. His son, Abulfazl Sarjanov, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of attempting to assassinate a public figure, stemming from his social media posts.