Azerbaijan ceases engagement in implementation of ECHR judgments 

ArmInfo.  Azerbaijan has ceased participation in the process of implementing decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), reads the 9th Annual Report of the CE Committee of Ministers 2025. 

"As is clear from all the above, the system can only work when states  commit to it and engage in the process. Unfortunately, this was not  the situation for all states in 2025.  Azerbaijan only made two  submissions to the Committee in 2025, the latest of which dates back  to 18 March 2025. Since then and for the time being, it is no longer  engaging with the Committee in relation to execution of judgments,  placing considerable strain on the supervision mechanism. 

"10% (397) of the pending cases related to member states are against  Azerbaijan, and as of 31 December 2025 there were 169 cases in which  information on the payment of the just satisfaction was awaited,  including 112 that had been waited for over six months (constituting  a very significant increase compared to 2024 and, as set out above,  having an overall negative impact on the payment statistics).

In this context of prolonged lack of engagement with the supervision  process, in its most recent decisions the Committee, referring to the  call in the Reykjavik Declaration for a "co-operative and inclusive  approach, based on dialogue" to execution, repeatedly encouraged the  authorities of Azerbaijan to renew such dialogue at a high level with  the Secretariat to achieve progress in the execution of cases against  Azerbaijan." 

It reiterated the freely undertaken commitment and obligation of  Azerbaijan, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 1, of the  Convention, to abide fully, effectively, and promptly by the final  judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in any case to which  they are a party and deplored the authorities' continued silence for  several meetings now and the persistent lack of progress in the cases  under consideration.3 The lack of participation and information from  the Russian Federation also remains a major systemic obstacle for the  Convention system and the supervision process in 2025. The Russian  authorities have ceased communication with the Council of Europe  regarding the implementation of the Court's judgments and have chosen  not to participate in the Human Rights meetings; the Committee has  repeatedly deplored this situation. This continued non-participation  has direct consequences for the caseload. As of 31 December 2025,  3,025 cases against the Russian Federation were pending execution,  including 251 leading cases, all under enhanced supervision. Five  were inter-state cases. These cases represented almost 44% of all  cases pending before the Committee of Ministers (compared to 40% at  the end of 2024). Information on just satisfaction was missing in  1,748 cases against the Russian Federation, with the outstanding  amount reported as over three billion euros (including amounts  awarded in the two inter-State cases pending execution).  Nevertheless, in line with the Committee's instructions, the DEJ has  continued to explore other avenues with international organisations  (in particular the United Nations) and CSOs to keep the issue under  close scrutiny (see Chapter VII for full details). Finally, as in  previous annual reports, much of the statistical information relevant  to execution trends and the situation in each member state is set out  in the detailed state- by-state overviews and statistical tables (see  Chapter V). These data remain essential for contextualising progress  and identifying both systemic patterns and country-specific  challenges.

In 2025, the Committee of Ministers received from the European Court  75 cases against Azerbaijan for supervision of their execution  (compared to 62 in 2024 and 84 in 2023).  Of the new violations found  by the Court in 2025, one concerned the failure to fulfil positive  obligations to secure respect for the applicant's right to private  life, on account of his unlawful filming and its publication by the  police. Another concerned the unlawful interference with the  applicants' freedom of expression resulting from the arbitrary  refusal of the National Television and Radio Council to grant them a  radio broadcasting licence. Others concerned lack of sufficient  reasons given for detention and continued pre-trial detention as well  as unlawful deprivation of property rights. Pending cases On 31  December 2025, there were 397 cases pending execution (compared to  329 in 2024 and 337 in 2023), of which 24 were leading cases  classified under enhanced procedure (compared to 23 in 2024 and 21 in  2023), and 29 were leading cases classified under standard procedure.  Of the leading cases under enhanced procedure, 20 have been pending  for five years or more; similarly, 16 of the leading cases under  standard procedure have been pending for five years or more (compared  to 15 in both 2024 and 2023).8 Action plans/reports The authorities  submitted one action plan and one action report. Initial action  plans/action reports were awaited in respect of eight groups/cases  despite the expiry of the extended deadline in this respect. Updated  action plans/action reports containing additional information were  awaited in respect of 19 groups/cases, in which either the deadline  set by the Committee of Ministers in this respect has expired (eight  groups) or feedback was sent by the DEJ before 01/01/2025 (11  groups/cases). Just satisfaction Full payment of the just  satisfaction awarded by the Court was registered in five cases in  2025, while confirmation of full payment and/or default interest was  awaited in 112 cases for which the deadline indicated in the Court's  judgment has passed since more than six months.