Information Note on the Court’s case-law 64

May 2004

Guliyev v. Azerbaijan (dec.) - 35584/02

Decision 27.5.2004 [Section I]

Article 3 of Protocol No. 1

Stand for election

Refusal of registration as candidate in presidential elections: inadmissible

Article 6

Civil proceedings

Article 6-1

Civil rights and obligations

Refusal of registration as candidate in presidential elections: Article 6 not applicable

The appl icant, who currently resides in the United States, held key posts between 1990 and 1993 in the country's oil sector, as well as in Government and Parliament. In 1996, he resigned from office and left the country. While abroad, he founded a political party (DPA) with headquarters in Baku. In 1998, the Prosecutor General indicted the applicant for misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and fraud. In 2000, a District Court ordered his detention on remand pending trial. As a condition for returning to Azerbaijan and standing trial, the applicant asked for the replacement of the detention on remand by house arrest pending trial. His petition and subsequent appeal were dismissed. The criminal proceedings against the applicant are pending and the detentio n order remains unimplemented as he is still abroad. Moreover, in the summer of 2003 his political party, the DPA, nominated him as a candidate for the presidential elections. The Central Election Commission rejected the applicant's nomination.

Inadmissible under Article 6 § 1: The dispute concerned the applicant's political right and did not have any bearing on his “civil rights and obligations”: incompatible ratione materiae .

Inadmissible under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1: This provision only a pplied to the “choice of the legislature.” In this case, the presidential elections could not be construed as falling within the meaning of that term: incompatible ratione materiae .

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Re gistry does not bind the Court.

Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes