On May 20, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared 25 judgments of Azerbaijan to be in violation of the freedom of association. All these judgments related to the refusal to register 25 newly established NGOs.
Violation was recognized for the refusal to register 12 NGOs in case of “Mehman Aliyev and others v. Azerbaijan” (Application № 46930/10) and to register 13 NGOs in case of “Abdullayev and others v. Azerbaijan” (Application № 69466/14).
In all cases, the applicants applied to the Ministry of Justice for registration of the NGOs they had established, but the Ministry refused to register the NGO, each time finding various shortcomings in the documents. Applicants complained that it violated their right to freedom of association guaranteed by Article 11. The ECtHR found the Applicants' complaints justified and recognized that their right to freedom of association had been violated. The ECtHR also determined compensation to each of the Applicants.