FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Applications nos. 62480/13 and 44463/14 Nigar MAJIDOVA and Nargiz AKHUNDOVA against Azerbaijan and Sudaba MAMMADOVA and Zeynab AGAYEVA against Azerbaijan

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 9 January 2018 as a Committee composed of:

Erik Møse , President, Síofra O ’ Leary, Lәtif Hüseynov , judges,

and Anne-Marie Dougin , Acting Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on 16 September 2013 and 5 June 2014 respectively,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

2. The applicants in the second case, Ms Sudaba Mammadova and Ms Zeynab Agayeva , are Azerbaijani nationals, who were born in 1960 and 1964 respectively and live in Masalli .

3. The applicants in both cases were represented before the Court by Mr I. Aliyev , a lawyer practising in Azerbaijan.

4. The Azerbaijani Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Ç. Asgarov .

5. The applicants in both cases complained under Article 11 of the Convention that the refusals by the State authorities to register associations which they had founded had amounted to a violation of their right to freedom of association. They also complained that the authorities had seized the case files relating to their applications from the office of Mr Aliyev , their representative, infringing their right of individual application under Article 34 of the Convention. In addition, the applicants in application no. 44463/14 complained under Article 6 of the Convention that they had not been notified of the Supreme Court hearing in the civil proceedings they had instituted in connection with the refusal to register their association.

6. On 11 October 2016 the applicants ’ complaints detailed above were communicated to the Government who submitted to the Registry their observations on the admissibility and merits of the applications. These were forwarded to the applicants, who were invited to submit observations in reply by 31 March 2017.

7. On 10 April 2017 the applicants ’ representative informed the Court that the applicants wanted to withdraw their applications since they no longer intended to pursue them.

THE LAW

8. In the light of the foregoing, and in the absence of any special circumstances regarding respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention or its Protocols, the Court, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application s .

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case s out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.

Done in English and notified in writing on 1 February 2018 .

Anne-Marie Dougin Erik Møse Acting Deputy Registrar President