Last Updated on April 24, 2019 by LawEuro
Communicated on 6 February 2019
FIFTH SECTION
Application no.30640/09
Imanzade Alisultan Gizi MAMMADOVA
against Azerbaijan
lodged on 29 May 2009
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Ms ImanzadeMammadova is a Russian national who was born in 1949 and lives in Sochi. She is represented before the Court by Mr R. Cook, Mr A. Carbonneau and Mr R. Kohlhofer, lawyers practising respectively in London, Yerevan and Vienna.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 29 July 2008, while the applicant was hosting and leading a religious meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses at a private apartment, the applicant was apprehended by a police officer, who happened to live in the same apartment block, and taken to the Zakatala District Police Department, where she was detained for a few hours before being released.
As can be seen from the case material, several days later the applicant was provided with a copy of the decision of the chief district police investigator declining to open a criminal investigation against her.
On 7 August 2008 the applicant visited the police station, where she paid a fine of 16 manats (AZN – approximately 7 euros (EUR) at the time). However, on the same day she was arrested and the next day, 8 August 2008, taken to the Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where she was held in detention until 22 August, when she was deported from Azerbaijan.
On 2 October 2008 the applicant’s representative lodged a complaint with the General Prosecutor’s Office and several other organisations, requesting a copy of the decision regarding the applicant’s deportation order.
On 13 October 2008 the applicant’s representative received a letter from the Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; enclosed was a copy of the Zakatala District Court’s decision dated 7 August 2008 concerning the applicant’s deportation. The District Court had found the applicant guilty of the administrative offence of violating the legislation on freedom of religion under Article 300 of the Code of Administrative Offences and ordered that she be deported from Azerbaijan. The decision also ordered that she be detained in a detention facility until the decision was executed.
On 20 October 2008 the applicant’s representative obtained a copy of the District Court’s decision and on 29 October 2008 he lodged an appeal against that decision with the Sheki Court of Appeal.
On 4 December 2008 the Sheki Court of Appeal dismissed that appeal.
On 26 December 2008 the applicant’s representative received a letter from the Sheki Court of Appeal stating that decisions of the appeal courts with regard to the administrative offences were final and could not be appealed against.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 9 of the Convention that she was expelled from Azerbaijan for her religious activities.
The applicant further complains under Article 5 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention that her detention during the period between 7 and 22 August 2008 was not in accordance with the law and that she had no opportunity to challenge the expulsion order.
The applicant also complains that her expulsion from Azerbaijan was carried out in a manner incompatible with Article 1 of Protocol No. 7.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. As regards the applicant’s deportation, was there an interference with her right to freedom of religion under Article 9 § 1 of the Convention? If so, was that interference justified in terms of Article 9 § 2?
2. Was the applicant deprived of her liberty, in breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, was the applicant’s detention during the period between 7 and 22 August 2008 ordered “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law”?
3. Did the applicant have at her disposal an effective procedure by which she could challenge the lawfulness of her detention, as required by Article 5§ 4 of the Convention?
4. Was the applicant “an alien lawfully in the territory of the respondent State” within the meaning of Article 1 § 1 of Protocol No. 7? Assuming that the applicant was indeed a lawfully resident alien in respect of whom an expulsion order was made, was the decision to expel her reached in accordance with law and the procedural requirements of Article 1 § 1 of Protocol No. 7? If not, was that decision “necessary” within the meaning of Article 1 § 2 of Protocol No. 7?
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